LIBRARY  OF  THE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 

PRINCETON.  N.  J. 


PRESENTED   BY 


Mrs.  Huston  Dixon 


BV  4832  .M38  1908  1 

Matheson,  George,  1842-1906 
Thoughts  for  life  s  journey 


THOUGHTS   FOR  LIFE'S  JOURNEY 


BY  GEORGE  MATHESON,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

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Hiffc 

THOUGHTS    F(l)k''*'" 
LIFE'S   J0URNE¥^^ 


BY 


GEORGE  MATHESON 

DD,.  LL.D.,    F.R.S.E, 


AUTHOR    OF 
'LEAVES  FOR  QUIET  HOURS' 
"RESTS   BY   THE   RIVER",  etc, 


f 


NEW  YORK 
A.  C,  ARMSTRONG  &  SON 

3  and  5  WEST  EIGHTEENTH  STREET, 
1908 


PREFATORY    NOTE 

In  accordance  with  a  suggestion  made  by  the 
pubHshers  to  the  author  some  few  months  before 
his  death,  these  devotional  sermonettes,  which 
have  appeared  from  time  to  time  in  The  Christian 
World,  are  now  issued  in  collective  form.  Eighty- 
six  sermonettes  are  here  included,  dealing  with 
varied  subjects  that  may  appeal  to  varied  minds. 
In  the  course  of  their  previous  issue  the  author 
received  much  eloquent  testimony  regarding  the 
help  and  comfort  derived  from  their  perusal, 
which  fact  would  tend  to  the  belief  that  this 
further  offering  in  a  more  permanent  form  is  not 
without  some  measure  of  justification. 


THOUGHTS  FOR  LIFE'S 
JOURNEY 

THE    HOUR    OF    GOD'S    CALL 

**The  Master  is  come,  and  calleth  for  thee." — John  xi.  28. 

It  was  a  strange  time  for  Martha  to  get  a  call 
— ^just  when  her  own  special  gift  had  come  to  a 
stand.  There  was  no  further  room  for  her 
practicalness ;  she  had  been  forced  to  fold  her 
hands.  The  power  to  work  had  ended ;  the 
necessity  to  wait  had  come.  It  was  a  tim_e  when 
Martha  might  well  have  said  to  herself:  "  I  have 
no  longer  any  calling  ;  my  occupation  is  gone  now. 
There  are  no  more  tables  to  serve,  no  more  friends 
to  entertain,  no  more  hospitalities  to  dispense,  no 
more  sick  brothers  to  nurse,  not  even  any  more 
funeral  arrangements  to  make  ;  my  work  is  done." 
Yet  it  was  at  that  hour  the  call  came.  It  was  at 
the  close  of  her  own  day  that  God's  day  began  for 

7 


Thoughts  for  Life's  Journey 

her.      It  was  in  the  stillness  of   all  her  special 
powers  that  the  knocker  struck  the  door. 

And  I  think,  my  brother,  it  is  ever  so  that  thy 
Father  deals  with  thee.  I  do  not  think  He  knocks 
at  the  door  of  thy  special  gift ;  rather,  it  seems  to 
me,  does  He  seek  thy  neglected  door.  He  would 
bring  thee  out  precisely  by  that  gate  which  was 
not  thine  entrance  gate.  Why  does  He  so  often 
block  that  particular  way  on  which  thou  art  going  ? 
"  To  teach  thee  distrust  of  thyself,'"  cry  a  hundred 
voices.  Nay,  to  teach  thee  to  trust  thyself  in 
more  directions.  Why  should  all  thy  work  be 
special !  Is  there  to  be  no  road  between  thee  and 
thy  brother — no  sympathy  with  that  which  is 
another's  endowment?  Why  has  God  stripped 
thee  of  thy  power  of  active  service  ?  To  teach 
thee  thine  impotence  ?  No,  to  show  thee  thy 
power  on  the  other  side  of  the  hill.  Is  there  no 
service  but  action  !  Is  there  no  blessing  for  Mary  ! 
Is  there  no  work  for  those  who  can  only  stand  and 
wait,  only  lie  and  wait !  What  of  that  wondrous 
movement  which  makes  no  noise — the  surrender 
of  the  will !  What  of  those  who  suffer  and  pine 
not,  endure  and  complain  not,  bear  and  doubt  not ! 
How  came  they  to  that  blissful  call?  Through  the 
shadows  of  the  evening.  They  once  were  like 
thee — beheving  in  nothing  but  the  hand.    God  hid 

8 


The  Hour  of  God's  Call 

the  garish  day,  and  the  hand  grew  powerless. 
And  then  the  Master  called  through  another 
avenue — a  slighted  avenue  ;  and  the  inward  will 
arose  and  said,  "I  have  found  a  neglected 
door." 


THE  OPEN  EFFECT  OF  SECRET 
ASPIRATION 

"  Pray  to  thy  Father  which  is  in  secret ;  and  thy  Father 
which  seeth  in  secret  shall  reward  thee  openly." — Matt.  vi.  6. 

The  doctrine  of  Jesus  differs  here  from  the  view 
of  the  moderns.  The  common  voice  of  oz^r  day  is, 
"  Pray  in  secret,  and  thy  Father  will  reward  thee 
secretly."  I  am  told  that  the  only  use  of  prayer  is 
to  calm  the  inind — to  breath  within  me  a  spirit  of 
peace.  And  truly,  even  if  that  were  all,  it  would 
be  a  most  valuable  boon.  But  it  would  not  be  an 
**  open  reward."  It  would  be  a  thing  as  latent  as 
my  prayer.  It  would  be  a  little  secret  of  the  heart 
between  me  and  my  Father.  Its  coming  would 
be  unknown  to  the  world ;  its  presence  would  be 
unseen  by  the  world  ;  its  music  would  be  unheard 
by  the  world.  That  may  be  very  sublime,  but  it 
is  not  what  Christ  promised.  What  He  says  is 
that  the  prayer  is  to  be  secret,  but  the  reward 
open.  The  prayer  is  to  be  unwitnessed ;  the 
answer  is  to  be  public.  The  prayer  is  to  be  veiled  ; 
the  answer   is  to  be  read  of  all  men.     The  prayer 

lO 


The  Open  Effect  of  Secret  Aspiration 

is  to  be  within  closed  doors  ;  the  answer  is  to  be 
in  the  wide  wide  world. 

My  brother,  do  not  say  that  the  purpose  of  your 
prayer  is  to  calm  your  mind  !  That  is  not  an  end  ; 
it  is  a  beginning.  If  you  have  a  calm  mind  you 
will  come  out  into  the  open.  Your  Father's  aim 
is  not  that  you  should  enter  into  rest ;  it  is  that 
you  should  enter  into  movement.  He  offers  you 
His  peace,  not  to  make  you  lie  down  in  green 
pastures,  but  to  make  you  walk  in  the  paths  of 
righteousness.  It  is  not  the  secrecy  of  our  prayer 
that  He  values ;  it  is  the  publicity  which  the  secret 
hour  kindles.  Tell  me  !  have  not  our  most  public 
moments  come  from  our  most  secret  hours  ?  When 
you  were  a  child  you  built  castles  in  the  air.  They 
were  rather  castles  in  the  heart ;  they  were  all 
inside — within  the  closed  doors  of  the  soul.  These 
castle-buildings  were  your  first  prayers.  They 
were  the  golden  wishes  of  your  spirit,  and  they 
were  only  visible  to  you  and  your  Father.  There 
was  no  axe  or  hammer  heard  when  these  houses 
were  building ;  they  were  prayers  to  your  Father 
"  in  secret."  Yet  these  prayers  have  had  an  open 
reward.  ;  You  are  richer  to-day  by  reason  of  the 
castles  you  built  in  your  heart.  I  do  not  say  your 
life  has  ever  reached  the  measure  of  them  ;  I  know 
it  has  not.  But  I  do  say  it  has  reached  more  than 
i  II 


Thoughts  for  Life's  Journey 

it  would  have  reached  without  them.  Your  love's 
young  dream  has  kept  you  from  the  miry  clay. 
Your  vision  of  the  hill  has  nerved  you  for  the  plain. 
In  the  secret  places  of  your  heart  you  have  heard 
distant  music — the  world  v/ould  say  imaginary 
music.  But  it  is  to  this  secret  music  that  the 
march  of  your  outward  life  has  been  timed.  It  is 
this  far-off  melody  that  has  fired  you  for  the  actual 
battle.  It  is  this  song  in  the  night  that  has  made 
you  conqueror  in  the  day.  Build,  my  brother, 
your  castles  of  prayer — build  6n  !  They  will  meet 
you  again  in  stone  and  lime.  You  vill  find  them 
in  the  daylight  world — the  world  of  life  and  action. 
Your  poetry  will  help  your  prose ;  your  flight  will 
aid  your  walking.  Stand  in  the  secret  place  of 
golden  wishes  ;  but  know  assuredly  that  there  is 
nothing  secret  which  shall  not  be  revealed  I 


12 


THE    CLEANSING    OF    THE    TEMPLE 

"  When  He  had  made  a  scourge  of  small  cords,  He  drove  them 
all  out  of  the  temple,  and  the  sheep,  and  the  oxen ;  and  poured 
out  the  changers'  money,  and  overthrew  the  tables ;  and  said, 
Make  not  my  Father's  house  an  house  of  merchandise." — 
John  ii.  15,  16. 

We  all  begin  by  making  the  house  of  God  a 
house  of  merchandise.  When  people  begin  to 
think  seriously,  religion  first  presents  itself  as  a 
present  penance  for  the  sake  of  future  gain.  A 
man  says :  "  I  am  told  pious  people  get  on  in  the 
world ;  God  blesses  them  in  their  basket  and  in 
their  store.  True,  church  is  very  dull ;  but  church 
means  a  blessing  in  life.  If  I  serve  God,  God 
will  smile  on  me.  If  I  seek  Him  on  Sunday,  He 
will  not  forget  me  in  the  struggle  for  bread  on 
Monday."  That  is  what  Christ  calls  buying  and 
selling  in  the  temple  of  God.  You  offer  the 
Almighty  a  sight  of  your  grave  face  on  the  chance 
that  He  will  pay  you  back  by  a  gift  of  sumptuous 
living.  For  a  time  the  Lord  suffers  this.  He  lets 
you  for  a  space  bring  your  merchandise  into  the 
temple,  for  it  is  better  to  come  to  the  temple  with 

13 


Thoughts  for  Life's  Journey 

your  merchandise  than  not  to  come  at  all.  But 
by-and-by  He  feels  that  the  time  for  expulsion 
has  arrived.  He  takes  a  scourge  of  small  cords 
and  drives  out  the  sheep  and  oxen.  What  is  that 
scourge  ?  It  is  a  form  of  experience.  What  is  it 
that  drives  out  the  mercantile  view  of  religion  ? 
It  is  just  the  discovery  that  the  good  are  not 
physically  rewarded.  Nothing  drives  out  the 
merchandise  from  the  temple  like  the  experience 
of  Job.  We  see  him  leading  a  good  life ;  yet  we 
see  the  sheep  and  oxen  taken  from  him  just  as 
they  are  taken  from  bad  people.  It  is  meant  to 
show  him,  it  is  meant  to  show  us,  that  religion  is 
not  a  mercantile  transaction,  that  the  rewards  of 
God  are  not  sheep  and  oxen.  To  every  growing 
spirit  the  voice  of  Christ  is  this  :  ''  Make  not  My 
Father's  house  a  house  of  merchandise  !  " 

Lord,  I  understand  Thy  dealings  in  the  great 
Temple.  Often  have  I  wondered  why  the  white 
robes  of  fortune  were  not  reserved  for  the  whitest 
souls.  I  do  not  wonder  now.  I  understand  why 
it  is  written  of  Thy  coming  glory,  **  Of  that  day 
and  that  hour  knoweth  no  man."  If  we  did  know, 
we  should  crowd  Thy  temple  as  we  crowd  the 
market-place — for  gain.  We  should  go  up  to  Thy 
house  in  multitudes,  we  should  jostle  one  another 
to  get  first  in ;  there  would  be  a  struggle  for  the 


The  Cleansing  of  the  Temple 

survival  of  the  fittest.  But  the  fittest  w^ould  be 
the  most  selfish  ;  it  would  be  a  struggle  for  the 
glory  of  the  flesh  ;  v^e  should  seek,  not  the 
prodigal's  penitence,  but  the  prodigal's  ring. 
Therefore  it  is  that  in  the  far  country  Thou 
revealest  not  the  ring.  Thou  hidest  the  music 
and  the  dancing  that  await  us  in  Thy  house. 
Thou  comest  to  meet  us  without  the  costly  robe, 
with  only  the  song  of  welcome.  Often  with  a 
scourge  of  small  cords  Thou  drivest  the  sheep  and 
oxen  from  our  temple.  Often  in  the  very  front  of 
our  altar  Thou  overturnest  the  table  of  our  gains. 
Men  say,  "  If  He  loved  them,  would  He  overturn 
their  table  ?  "  It  is  because  of  Thy  love,  O  Lord  ! 
Thou  preparest  for  me  a  table  in  the  wilderness, 
lest  I  should  seek  Thee,  not  for  love,  but  for  gold. 
Thou  makest  me  sit  down  in  the  presence  of  mine 
enemies,  lest  I  should  come  to  Thee  for  the 
winning  of  earthly  friends.  Thou  leadest  me 
through  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death,  lest  I 
should  be  comforted  by  any  rod  and  staff  but 
Thine.  Cleanse  from  merchandise  the  temple  of 
my  soul ! 


15 


THE    TOUCH    OF   JESUS 

"Jesus  put  forth  His  hand,  and  touched  the  leper,  saying, 
I  will;  be  thou  clean." — Matt.  viii.  3. 

Do  you  think  that  in  the  view  of  St.  Matthew 
the  touch  had  anything  to  do  with  the  miracle  ? 
It  seems  to  me  that  we  are  under  a  delusion  on 
this  point.  I  have  heard  it  said  that  Christ  never 
worked  without  human  means.  It  is  true  that  He 
always  brought  Himself  into  contact  with  the 
afflicted  party.  But  I  do  not  think  the  motive  of 
the  contact  was  the  use  of  human  means.  I 
believe  the  contact  was  in  every  case  something 
over  and  above  the  miracle.  It  was  quite  possible 
to  have  healed  this  leper  by  a  word  alone.  It 
would  be  quite  possible  for  God  Almighty  to  say 
to  all  the  moral  lepers  of  the  world,  **  Be  thou 
clean !  "  and  the  cure  would  be  Divinely  perfect. 
Why,  then,  does  He  not  ?  Just  because  the  cure 
would  be  Divinely  perfect.  God  wants  it  to  be 
humanly  perfect,  and  this  can  only  be  effected  by 
a  touch.  Elijah  in  the  desert  may  be  fed  by 
ravens  or  he  may  be  fed  by  man's  philanthropy, 

16 


The  Touch  of  Jesus 

The  physical  effect  will  be  the  same,  but  not  the 
moral  effect.  Elijah  fed  by  the  ravens  is  not  a 
whit  nearer  to  his  kind  than  Elijah  faint  and 
hungry ;  but  Elijah  fed  by  human  hands  becomes 
himself  more  human.  The  greatest  calamity  of  a 
leper  was  not  his  leprosy ;  it  was  his  divorce  from 
his  fellow-man.  It  was  not  his  physical  disease 
that  divorced  him  ;  it  was  the  belief  in  his  moral 
contagion.  His  greatest  cry  was  for  some  one  to 
touch  him — to  bridge  the  river  of  separation.  It 
was  easy  to  get  the  touch  after  he  was  healed. 
But  the  hard  thing  was  to  get  contact  before 
healing — to  receive  the  touch  before  receiving  the 
mandate,  *'  Be  thou  clean  !  "  His  fellow-men 
would  not  grant  him  that  boon.  Doubtless  they 
prayed  for  his  recovery,  but  they  would  not  touch 
him  Mw-recovered.  God  could  have  healed  him  in 
answer  to  their  prayers,  but  He  wanted  to  heal 
him  in  answer  to  their  contact. 

Jesus,  Thou  alone  hast  touched  the  leper  un- 
healed. I  have  read  of  a  woman  who  touched  the 
hem  of  Thy  garment ;  we  call  it  the  touch  of  faith. 
But  Thou  hast  a  touch  for  the  hem  of  our  gar- 
ment, and  this  is  also  a  touch  of  faith.  It  is  a 
touching  of  that  which  is  still  impure,  and  it  is 
prompted  by  a  faith  in  my  possibilities.  It  is  a 
hand   put  out   to   give    me    a    chance — a    hand 

17  B 


Thoughts  for  Life's  Journey 

preceding  the  voice — preceding  the  cure.  Thy 
touch  Hngers  not  for  the  cleansing  of  my  leprosy. 
It  seeks  me  in  the  dark  and  in  the  cold.  It  is  a 
touch  of  faith,  not  of  sight.  Thou  comest  to  me 
when  I  am  still  in  the  shadow.  It  is  on  a  soiled 
finger  Thou  puttest  the  adoption  ring ;  it  is  on  a 
broken  body  Thou  layest  the  best  robe.  Thou 
comest  to  me  before  my  dawn,  when,  as  yet,  there 
is  nothing  to  see.  Thy  coming  is  a  walk  by  faith. 
Thou  takest  me  on  trust  ere  I  have  done  anything. 
Just  as  I  am,  without  one  plea,  Thou  touchest 
me — Thou  layest  on  me  Thine  ordaining  hand. 
Just  as  I  am,  unhealed,  uncleansed,  Thou  touchest 
the  hem  of  my  soiled  garment,  and  Thy  voice 
says  to  my  soul,  '*  Take  another  chance ;  come 
and  try  once  morel"  O  Jesus,  great  is  Thy 
faith  I 


18 


THE    THINGS    INDESTRUCTIBLE 

••  Abideth  faith,  hope,  love,  these  three." — i  Cor.  xiii.  13. 

And  so  there  are  three  things  which  are  never 
to  die,  which  I  am  to  carry  with  me  beyond  the 
grave !  Three  pearls  are  to  be  saved  from  the 
wreck  of  time  and  landed  on  the  shore !  Two  of 
the  preservations  surprise  me.  I  could  never 
wonder  at  the  immortality  of  love,  for  heaven 
without  love  would  be  the  world  without  the  sun. 
But  faith  and  hope — where  is  the  place  for  these  in 
heaven!  I  thought  faith  would  drop  her  wings 
when  she  lighted  on  the  soil  of  home  ;  I  thought 
hope  would  draw  in  her  sails  when  she  touched 
fruition's  shore.  The  men  of  old  time  told  me 
that  all  mystery  would  vanish  when  the  curtain  of 
death  infolded  me.  They  told  me  that  faith  would 
be  lost  in  sight,  that  hope  would  fade  in  fulfilment. 
Paul  says  they  shall  abide.  How  shall  they  abide 
with  perfect  revelation  ?  How  shall  faith  breathe 
in  the  cloudless  sky  ;  how  shall  hope  flutter  in  the 
windless  air  ?  If  these  abide,  shadow  must  abide  » 
and   why  is  shadow  there  ?      Why  prolong  the 

19  B  2 


Thoughts  for  Life's  Journey 

winter  of  my  faith  and  the  spring-time  of  my  hope 
when  the  summer  of  my  love  has  come  ? 

In  the  interest  of  that  love,  O  my  soul.  Hast 
thou  considered  the  place  of  the  shadows  !  Are 
they  not  the  very  pinions  of  thy  love  !  Is  not  thy 
pity  ever  born  of  danger  !  It  would  die  if  it  saw 
clearly.  Perfect  morning  would  scatter  the  fairest 
of  the  gems.  It  would  destroy  the  need  of  thy 
charity.  It  would  lame  the  feet  of  thy  sympathy. 
It  would  clip  the  wings  of  thy  compassion.  It 
would  close  the  gates  of  thy  solicitude  for  others. 
It  would  end  the  days  of  thine  unselfish  prayers. 
Keep  thy  shadows,  O  my  soul !  Keep  a  httle 
rim  of  darkness  round  thy  sun  !  Keep  a  spot 
unrevealed  in  the  dealings  of  thy  God  !  Keep 
in  the  new  world  a  place  for  the  cross  of  Jesus — 
a  place  where  love  may  see  the  cloud  and  feel  a 
brother's  pain  !  Thy  perfect  sight  would  be  dearly 
purchased  by  the  loss  of  thy  Lord's  passion.  The 
cloud  that  covers  the  transfigured  glory  is  itself  a 
glory.  If  thou  wouldst  give  rein  to  thy  love, 
leave  in  the  Paradise  of  God  a  margin  for  faith 
and  hope. 


20 


THE    PURPOSE    OF    GOD'S    LEADING 

"  He  leadeth  me  in  the  paths  of  righteousness — for  His 
name's  sake." — Ps.  xxiii.  3. 

We  hear  a  great  deal  about  the  leading  of  God ; 
but  I  think  there  is  no  subject  on  which  we  have 
such  confused  ideas.  We  say  that  God's  is  an 
individual  Providence.  On  the  faith  of  that,  we 
ask  for  some  trinket,  ring,  or  gewgaw.  We  do 
not  get  it.  Then  we  say,  "  It  is  all  a  delusion  ; 
God  cares  nothing  for  individuals !  "  The  Psalmist 
has  avoided  this  confusion.  On  the  one  hand,  he 
has  no  doubt  whatever  of  an  individual  Providence. 
Every  note  of  the  Psalm  is  personal :  **  The  Lord 
is  my  shepherd,"  "He  leadeth  me:''  But  on  the 
other  hand,  he  recognises  that  the  leading  itself  is 
not  for  an  individual  end:  "He  leadeth  me  in  the 
path  of  righteousness — He  leadeth  me  for  His 
name's  sake."  This  is  very  strange  language.  We 
should  have  expected  him  to  say,  "  God  is  leading 
me  in  green  pastures  on  account  of  the  good  life  / 
have  led."  On  the  contrary,  he  says  "  God  is 
leading  me  in  green  pastures  to  further  the  good 

2X 


Thoughts  for  Life's  Journey 

of  other  people — to  minister  to  those  who  have  not 
led  a  good  life."  And  I  think  the  experience  of 
the  Psalmist  will  be  found  true  to  all  experience. 
I  do  not  believe  that  any  man  is  led  into  prosperity 
or  into  adversity  for  the  sake  of  that  prosperity  or 
adversity ;  it  is  always  for  the  sake  of  God's  name 
or  holiness.  You  pray  for  worldly  wealth  and  it 
comes  to  you.  Has  God  led  you  into  that  wealth  ? 
Yes,  but  not  to  reward  your  prayer.  Rather 
would  I  say  that  the  prayer  and  the  riches  are 
both  parts  of  His  guidance  into  a  path  of  humani- 
tarian righteousness  where  you  can  minister  to  the 
sorrows  of  man.  Why  was  Abraham  promised 
the  land  of  Canaan  ?  As  a  reward  for  leaving  Ur 
of  the  Chaldees  ?  No,  but  with  the  view  of  making 
blessed  all  the  families  of  the  earth.  God  did  not 
give  him  the  new  country  as  a  recompense  for 
leaving  the  old ;  He  inspired  him  to  leave  the  old 
because  He  meant  to  give  him  the  new. 

Lord,  lead  me  to  green  pastures  for  Thy  name's 
sake!  Thy  name  is  Love;  lead  me  to  green 
pastures  for  the  sake  of  love  1  I  do  not  seek  the 
verdant  spot  that  I  may  rest  there,  but  that 
through  my  rest  another  may  be  helped  in  toil.  I 
ask  the  gifts  of  fortune,  not  that  I  may  keep  them, 
but  that  I  may  share  them.  If  my  pastures  be 
green  let  me  feed  Thy  flock ;  if  my  waters  be  quiet 

22 


The   Purpose   of  God's   Leading 

let  me  launch  ships  for  Thee!  Often  in  the  days 
of  youth  I  have  prayed  that  Thou  wouldst  lead  me 
to  the  New  Jerusalem  whose  streets  are  paved 
with  gold.  I  would  not  unqualifiedly  pray  for 
that  now.  I  should  like  to  make  a  condition — 
that  I  should  not  be  forced  always  to  remain  there. 
I  should  like  to  have  the  egress,  as  well  as  the 
ingress,  of  the  city  of  gold.  I  should  like  freedom 
to  transfer  the  gold.  I  should  like  to  beautify  old 
Jerusalems.  I  would  pave  the  streets  of  bad 
Nineveh,  of  wicked  Babylon.  I  would  show  Thy 
gems  to  the  Gentiles,  Thy  pearls  to  the  outcast 
poor.  I  should  be  glad  to  bring  a  breath  of  the 
glassy  sea  into  the  lanes  and  alleys  of  the  working 
day.  Even  to  heaven  would  I  be  led  "for  Thy 
name's  sake.'* 


23 


THE    PECULIARITY    OF    CHRISTIAN 
LOVE 

*'Love  envieth  not." — i  Cor.  xiii.  4. 

Christian  love  is  the  only  kind  of  love  in  which 
there  is  no  rivalry,  no  jealousy.  There  is  jealousy 
among  the  lovers  of  art ;  there  is  jealousy  among 
the  lovers  of  song  ;  there  is  jealousy  among  the 
lovers  of  beauty.  The  glory  of  natural  love  is  its 
monopoly,  its  power  to  say,  "  It  is  mine."  But 
the  glory  of  Christian  love  is  its  refusal  of 
monopoly.  The  spiritual  artist — the  man  who 
paints  Christ  in  his  soul — wants  no  solitary  niche 
in  the  temple  of  fame.  He  would  not  like  to  hear 
any  one  say,  "  He  is  the  first  of  his  profession  ; 
there  is  not  one  that  can  hold  the  candle  to  him." 
He  would  be  very  sad  to  be  distinguished  in  his 
profession  of  Christ,  marked  out  as  a  solitary 
figure.  The  gladdest  moment  to  him  will  always 
be  the  moment  when  the  cry  is  heard,  *'  Thy 
brother  is  coming  up  the  ladder  also ;  thy  brother 
will  share  the  inheritance  with  thee." 

O  Thou  who  art  the  dear  love  of  my  heart,  I 
24 


The   Peculiarity   of  Christian    Love 

would  not  have  Thee  love  me  alone.  I  would  not 
desire  to  monopolise  Thy  heart.  I  would  not 
claim  Thee  as  my  solitary  possession.  I  would 
have  Thee  to  love  me  always,  to  love  me  every- 
where, to  love  me  perfectly — but  not  to  love  me 
only.  It  is  not  merely  that  I  am  not  jealous  of 
my  brother;  I  am  very  jealous  for  Thee.  If  I 
alone  possessed  Thee  it  would  narrow  Thee,  limit 
Thee,  circumscribe  Thee.  My  Christ,  I  would 
not  have  Thee  narrowed — not  for  all  the  pride  of 
being  the  centre  of  Thy  universe.  I  would  not 
have  Thee  lowered  to  gratify  my  pride.  If  I  am 
better  than  other  men,  I  dare  not,  with  the 
publican,  thank  Thee  for  that.  Rather  would  I 
pray  against  my  own  distinctiveness.  I  would 
beat  upon  my  breast  and  say  :  "  Break  the 
solitude,  O  Lord !  Deprive  me  of  this  monopoly 
of  goodness  !  Destroy  my  pre-eminence  in  Thy 
sight !  Remove  my  isolated  splendour  on  the 
mountain-top  with  Thee  !  Bring  up  the  crowd  at 
the  foot  of  the  hill  to  share  my  glory — to  love  and 
be  loved  like  me !  Let  us  sing  one  song ;  let  us 
wear  one  wreath ;  let  us  tell  one  tale ;  let  us  feel 
one  joy;  let  us  fill  one  house;  let  us  tread  one 
court ;  let  us  speak  one  tongue ;  let  us  offer  one 
heart  of  praise !  Feed  Thy  sheep,  lest  I  love 
Thee  more  than  they  !  " 

25 


THE    SABBATH    OF    THE    HEART 

"  And  God  blessed  the  seventh  day,  and  sanctified  it :  because 
that  in  it  He  had  rested  from  all  His  work." — Gen.  ii.  3. 

Creation  goes  from  the  wing  to  the  nest.  It 
begins  with  the  Spirit  moving,  and  it  ends  with 
the  Spirit  resting.  But  observe,  it  is  the  rest  of  a 
spirit.  What  is  the  rest  of  a  spirit  ?  It  is  the 
opposite  of  a  body's  rest.  The  body  rests  when 
it  has  reached  exhaustion  ;  the  spirit,  when  it  has 
reached  satisfaction.  The  body  reposes  when  it 
has  closed  its  eyes  on  everything  ;  the  spirit 
reposes  when  it  has  opened  its  eyes  on  its  own 
image.  God  could  not  rest  until  He  beheld  His 
likeness  in  the  pool.  Without  that  likeness  the 
pool  was  stagnant,  and  stagnancy  is  not  the 
spirit's  rest.  My  heart  can  never  find  repose 
until  it  has  found  something  like  itself,  something 
made  in  its  own  image.  Then  alone  it  meets 
with  that  delicious  thing,  reciprocity.  Reciprocity 
is  the  Sabbath  of  the  heart.  It  is  a  Sabbath 
bell  ringing  across  the  snow.  It  tells  me  there 
is   somewhere    in    the    void    a   house    of   kindred 

26 


The   Sabbath   of  the   Heart 

sympathy  where  I  can  find  communion,  fellowship, 
response.  When  I  want  to  rest  in  my  body,  I 
wish  no  one  to  speak  to  me.  But  when  I  want  to 
rest  in  my  spirit,  I  wish  to  be  spoken  to.  It  is  a 
voice  I  crave  for — the  answer  of  a  heart  to  my 
heart,  the  throb  of  a  soul  to  my  soul,  the  reply  of 
a  life  to  my  life.  My  spirit  will  rest  when  it  finds 
its  other  self. 

O  Thou  Divine  Man,  I  shall  find  it  in  Thee. 
Thou  art  that  for  which  I  have  been  waiting, 
without  which  I  have  been  weak.  It  is  my  want 
of  rest  that  has  made  my  want  of  service ;  my 
spirit  in  its  Gethsemane  has  been  sleeping  for 
sorrow.  Thou  comest  to  awake  me  out  of  sleep, 
to  wake  me  by  Thy  rest.  When  I  repose  in 
Thee,  I  shall  repose  in  nothing  else.  The  calm 
of  my  heart  shall  give  it  wings.  There  is  no 
flight  so  high  as  that  of  the  bird  that  has  been  in 
Thy  bosom.  Rest  my  heart,  O  Lord,  that  it  may 
soar !  It  has  no  pinions  out  of  Thy  sunshine.  It 
sings  in  Thy  beams ;  it  plays  in  Thy  smile  ;  it 
flutters  in  Thy  nest ;  it  flies  in  Thy  pavilion ;  it 
leaps  to  Thy  music ;  it  stirs  to  Thy  peace ;  it 
gathers  endless  strength  when  it  makes  an  end  in 
Thee.     If  I  sleep  in  Thee,  I  shall  do  well. 


27 


THE    SAFEGUARDING    OF    FIRST 
IMAGININGS 

"  God  saw  that  every  imagination  of  the  thoughts  of  man's 
heart  was  only  evil  continually." — Gen.  vi.  5. 

This  is  a  very  spiritual  perception  to  find  place 
in  so  old  a  book.  One  would  have  thought  that 
so  antique  a  document  would  have  taken  a  more 
outward  view  of  the  situation.  We  should  have 
expected  it  to  say,  "  The  Lord  saw  that  man  was 
perpetrating  deeds  of  appalling  atrocity."  Instead 
of  that  it  is  not  the  deed  at  all  it  emphasises ;  it 
is  the  imaginings.  And  this  old  document  is  right. 
It  is  before  its  time.  In  an  age  when  men  looked 
only  at  the  act,  the  writer  of  Genesis  fixed  his  eye 
on  the  imagination.  The  imagination  was  to  him 
what  God  saw — the  main  part  of  the  process.  You 
and  I,  in  all  cases  of  moral  corruption,  should 
follow  the  example  of  this  ancient  seer  ;  we  should 
seek  the  cause,  not  in  the  deed  of  to-day,  but  in 
the  ideal  of  yesterday.  All  corruption  begins  with 
an  evil  imagination,  in  other  words,  with  the 
admiration  of  a  bad  ideal.     The  origin  of  sin  is  a 

28 


The   Safeguarding  of  First   Imaginings 

false  model  of  greatness.  A  boy  becomes  selfish 
because  he  is  taught  that  great  people  are  those 
who  possess  much.  He  becomes  violent,  because 
he  has  nursed  the  thought  that  true  heroism  is 
fighting  heroism.  He  becomes  irreligious  because 
he  has  been  told  that  independence  is  manliness. 
The  picture-book  is  the  child's  first  educator  ;  and 
it  educates  either  for  good  or  ill.  It  educates 
for  ill  when  pictures  of  badness  are  beautifully 
painted.  That  becomes  an  imagination  of  the 
heart.  Evil  is  made  attractive,  fair,  heroic — an 
object  to  be  sought  for,  a  thing  to  be  desired. 

Ye  who  train  the  young — parents  and  teachers 
—beware  of  the  first  gallery  in  which  you  put  the 
child  !  Beware  of  the  earliest  pictures  which  its 
heart  will  hold !  They  are  the  germ-cells  of  the 
spirit — they  will  make  or  mar.  Beware  how  you 
suffer  a  bright  colour  to  light  upon  a  vicious  form  ! 
The  vice  will  grow  dim  to  the  eye,  but  the  bright 
colour  will  remain.  There  is  only  one  picture  that 
the  child's  heart  can  safely  hold;  it  is  the  form  of 
Jesus.  Put  it  there  early — before  all  things  !  Let 
it  be  the  first  painting  in  the  soul — the  child's  first 
ideal  of  greatness  !  Let  the  morning  message  of 
heroism  be  a  message  of  unselfishness !  Not  on 
Caesar,  not  on  Alexander,  not  on  Napoleon,  let  the 
opening  eye  be  centred ;  point  it  to  Jesus !     Let  it 

29 


Thoughts   for   Life's  Journey 

gaze  on  the  glory  of  what  man  calls  weak,  unfit  for 
survival !  Let  it  see  the  strength  of  gentleness, 
the  courage  of  meekness,  the  might  of  restraint, 
the  victory  of  forgiveness,  the  majesty  of  patience, 
the  triumph  of  peacemaking,  the  manliness  of 
compassion,  the  Divineness  of  sacrifice !  Let  it 
behold  the  splendour  of  that  epitaph,  "  Himself 
He  cannot  save,"  the  lustre  of  that  inscription, 
"  Obedient  unto  death  "  !  Let  it  mark  the  heroism 
of  that  bloodiest  of  battlefields  where  Love  stood 
dauntless  to  receive  its  mortal  wound !  Let  it 
catch  the  light  of  the  Dolorous  Way,  the  sheen  of 
Gethsemane,  the  glow  of  Calvary — till  the  heart 
of  the  child  shall  cry,  "  When  I  grow  up,  I  will  be 
a  Christ !  "  Then  will  the  tempter  vanish,  then 
will  the  kingdom  come ;  for  the  victory  is  already 
complete  when  we  have  imaged  the  beauty  of 
holiness. 


30 


HE    SOURCE    OF    UNREST 

"  I  came  not  to  send  peace,  but  a  sword." — Matt.  x.  34. 

The  advent  of  new  light  is  always  the  breaking 
of  old  peace.  We  often  speak  of  getting  tired  of 
things.  When  that  happens  you  may  be  sure  it 
is  because  a  new  thing  has  come.  It  is  not  fickle- 
ness that  makes  a  child  weary  of  its  toy  ;  it  is  the 
sight  of  something  higher.  All  unrest  is  born  of 
clearer  vision.  I  have  no  doubt  that,  to  St.  John, 
Patmos  was  quite  tolerable  till  he  saw  the  New 
Jerusalem.  When  he  looked  upon  a  sea  of  glass  he 
began  to  wish  that  there  was  no  more  sea  of  water ; 
but  before  that  time  he  was  probably  quite  satisfied 
with  the  water.  How  small  and  narrow  looked 
the  streets  of  your  own  town  when  you  came  back 
from  the  great  metropolis !  Previous  to  your 
going  they  seemed  splendid,  ample,  roomy;  but 
one  minute  of  London  put  them  in  the  shade. 
So  is  it  with  the  city  of  Christ ;  it  spoils  me  for 
everything.  The  moment  I  rest  my  eye  on  it,  I 
can  rest  it  on  nothing  else.  It  turns  my  palaces 
into  hovels ;  it  makes  my  mountains  low.     The 

31 


Thoughts   for  Life's  Journey 

things  which  used  to  be  gain  to  me  I  count  loss 
in  the  presence  of  an  all-excelling  glory.  I  may 
even  be  more  easily  fretted  than  of  yore ;  but  for 
the  love  of  God,  I  should.  A  man's  unrest  is  in 
proportion  to  his  standard.  He  who  knows 
nothing  of  the  calm  depths  of  God  may  be  content 
with  the  tossing  of  the  wave ;  but  the  man  who 
has  gazed  on  the  glassy  sea  will  wish  no  other 
sea,  will  long  for  the  time  when  storm  shall  be  no 
more. 

This,  O  Son  of  Man,  is  the  cross  Thou  bringest 
me.  I  cannot  escape  that  cross.  I  cannot  look 
on  Thee  without  being  disenchanted  with  the 
world.  Before  Thy  coming  I  was  at  peace. 
Ever3'thing  was  to  me  perfect ;  I  said,  *'  It  is 
good  to  be  here ;  let  me  build  my  tabernacle  here." 
But,  at  Thy  coming,  the  cloud  fell.  Everything 
of  mine  went  into  hopeless  shadow.  My  large 
rooms  looked  meagre ;  my  gold  became  dim  ;  my 
songs  ceased  to  inspire  me ;  my  books  had  a  want 
in  them  ;  my  entertainments  left  me  thirsty ;  my 
ambitions  most  disappointed  where  they  were 
most  fulfilled.  Would  I  rather  be  without  my 
cross  ?  Not  I.  Do  I  deem  that  the  former  days 
were  better  than  these  ?  Yes  ;  as  a  beast  counts 
betterness.  They  had  no  shadow  because  they 
had  no  light.      Thou   hast  brought  the   shg^dow 

32 


The   Source   of  Unrest 

because  Thou  hast  brought  the  Hght.  Thou  hast 
revealed  mortahty  through  immortaHty.  Thou 
hast  shown  me  night  through  day.  Thou  hast 
taught  me  silence  by  music.  Thou  hast  instructed 
me  in  the  thorn  by  the  bloom  of  the  rose.  Thou 
hast  made  me  know  deformity  by  the  sight  of  Thy 
beauty.  Thou  hast  told  me  by  Thy  life  what  it 
is  to  be  dead.  Thou  hast  given  me  a  vision  ot 
earth  through  the  gates  of  heaven.  It  is  the 
brightness  of  Thy  coming  that  has  consumed  my 
paltry  fires ;  my  sword  has  entered  by  Thy  peace. 


33 


THE  ORGAN  OF  DIVINE   KNOWLEDGE 

"  Eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard,  the  things  which  God 
hath  prepared  for  them  that  love  Him.  But  God  hath  revealed 
them  unto  us  by  His  Spirit." — i  Cor.  ii.  9,  10. 

Everything  is  seen  by  its  own  glass ;  every- 
thing looks  foolish  when  seen  through  any  other 
glass.  Music  is  meaningless  when  addressed  only 
to  the  eye ;  painting  has  no  message  to  the  ear. 
The  deep  things  of  man  can  only  be  seen  by  their 
own  faculty.  So  is  it  with  the  deep  things  of  God. 
There  are  things  in  religion  which  are  mysteries 
to  every  organ  but  one — the  spirit  of  love.  There 
are  depths  which  love  alone  can  fathom.  I  hear 
of  Divine  suffering ;  I  look  through  the  glass  of 
reason  and  pronounce  it  a  mystery.  I  say,  Could 
an  Infinite  Being  be  limited  by  human  trials! 
But  the  moment  I  learn  what  love  is  I  see  through 
another  glass.  I  see  that,  the  more  infinite  love 
is,  the  more  limited  must  its  possessor  be.  I  see 
that  if  God  be  love  He  not  only  can,  but  must, 
suffer  more  than  others.  I  see  that  if  He  were 
less  infinite  He  would  be  less  limited,  less  crush  d 

34 


The   Organ  of  Divine   Knowledge 

by  the  sorrows  around  Him.  It  is  the  fulness 
of  His  love  that  makes  Him  so  susceptible  to 
pain — the  pain  of  others ;  it  is  His  majesty  that 
crucifies  Him ;  His  cross  is  made  from  His 
crown. 

O  Thou  whose  name  is  Love,  by  Thine  own 
spirit  Thy  mysteries  are  manifest  to  me.  I 
understand  Thy  cross  the  moment  I  under- 
stand Thy  glory.  If  Thy  glory  were  the  kingdom 
and  the  power,  I  should  think  Thy  cross  what  the 
Romans  thought  it — foolishness.  But  Thy  glory 
is  love,  and  therefore  Thy  fetter  is  Thy  wing. 
Thy  burdens  are  the  gems  of  Thy  crown.  I  under- 
stand why  it  is  that  all  the  sorrow  came  to  Thee, 
and  not  to  me ;  it  was  because  Thou  wert  so 
infinitely  more  loving.  I  understand  why  the 
penalty  of  sin  fell  on  Thy  bosom,  not  on  mine. 
Mine  had  not  love  enough  to  bear  that  pain.  It 
would  have  been  a  mystery  if  it  had  fallen  on 
aught  but  Thee.  It  was  the  Divine  in  Thee,  not 
the  human,  that  made  Thee  suffer.  We  speak  of 
Thy  humiliation.  Thy  humiliation  was  not  Thy 
cross;  it  was  that  which  hindered  Thy  cross. 
Thy  cross  exalted  Thee ;  every  nail  was  a  badge 
of  royalty,  every  thorn  a  wreath  of  majesty. 
Thy  cross  became  Thee,  O  Christ ;  it  was  the 
fitting  raiment  of  the  king.  It  became  Thee 
35  C2 


Thoughts   for  Life's  Journey 

better  than  the  crown  I  meant  for  Thee — the 
hosannas  to  the  son  of  David.  God  forbid 
that  I  should  see  Thy  glory  in  aught  beside! 
It  is  all  limpid-clear  when  seen  through  the  glass 
of  love. 


36 


THE    SOLEMNITY    OF    YOUTH 

"  Put  off  thy  shoes  from  off  thy  feet,  for  the  place  whereon 
thou  standest  is  holy  ground." — Exod.  hi.  5. 

These  words  were  first  uttered  to  a  nation's 
youth.  They  are  strange  words  to  be  addressed 
to  youth  of  any  sort.  They  are  an  exhortation  to 
a  feeHng  of  solemnity.  We  do  not  commonly 
think  of  youth  as  a  solemn  time.  We  expect  it 
to  be  an  ardent  time,  an  enthusiastic  time,  a 
hopeful  time  ;  but  the  last  thing  we  should  asso- 
ciate with  it  is  solemnity.  And  yet  I  think  we  are 
wrong.  I  believe  youth  to  be  the  most  solemn  of 
all  seasons — more  solemn  than  the  hour  of  death. 
There  is  an  analogy  between  youth  and  death. 
Both  are  beginnings,  enterings  upon  the  unknown  ; 
but  they  are  beginnings  of  a  very  different  kind. 
In  death  I  am  passive  ;  I  am  in  the  hands  of  One, 
and  that  One  the  highest.  But  in  youth  I  am  in 
the  hands  of  three ;  I  am  between  three  currents 
— my  brother,  myself  and  God.  And  they  are 
cross-currents  ;  they  are  impelling  different  ways. 
Mine  moves  inward  ;  my  brother's  moves  outward ; 
37 


Thoughts  for   Life's  Journey 

God's  moves  upward.  Death  is  not  a  battle-field  ; 
I  am  a  captive  there  ;  God  is  all  in  all.  But  youth 
is  a  battle-field ;  God,  my  brother,  and  I,  are 
on  conflicting  sides,  and  there  is  likely  to  be 
strife.  No  wonder  I  am  solemn  before  the 
burning  bush  of  the  morning ! 

O  thou,  who  standest  before  that  glowing  fire, 
put  off  thy  shoes  from  off  thy  feet  1  My  cry  to 
thee  beyond  all  things  is,  "  Be  solemn  !  "  Many 
will  tell  thee  to  be  aspiring  ;  "  the  aspirations  of 
youth  "  has  become  a  proverbial  phrase.  And  yet 
I  think  aspiration  should  be  thy  second  thought.  I 
would  have  thy  first  thought  one  of  reverent  fear. 
Many  will  bid  thee  mount  up  with  eagle's  wings. 
I  would  have  thee  to  feel  at  first  a  paralysis  of  the 
wings.  The  morning  sun  is  beating  upon  thee 
and  beckoning  thee  upward ;  God  calls  to  thee 
out  of  the  fire.  But  there  are  obstructions  to  thy 
flight ;  there  are  frictions  of  the  air  which  impede 
thy  soaring.  There  are  winds  of  passion  which 
would  divert  thee  from  thy  sun.  There  are  gusts 
of  pride  that  would  drive  thee  from  thy  goal. 
There  are  storms  of  temptation  which  fain  would 
clog  thy  climbing.  Life  is  more  dangerous  than 
death ;  thy  wayward  heart  misguides  thee ;  thy 
brother's  hand  misleads  thee.  It  is  less  fearful  to 
be  alone  with  thy  God  than  to  dwell  in  thy  God's 

38 


The   Solemnity  of  Youth 

disputed  presence.  When  thou  standest  by  the 
beautiful  gate  of  hfe's  temple,  it  is  thy  time  to 
pray.  Be  it  thine,  like  the  angels,  to  veil  thy  face 
with  thy  wings  ere  thou  fliest !  Be  it  thine  to  hide 
thyself  in  the  secret  of  God's  pavilion  ere  thou 
soarest  into  the  sky  !  Remember  thy  Creator  in 
the  days  of  thy  youth,  for  the  place  of  the  burning 
bush  is  arduous  ground. 


39 


THE  COMFORT  OF  GOD'S  PARDON 

"Speak  ye  comfortably  to  Jerusalem,  and  cry  unto  her,  that 
her  iniquity  is  pardoned  ;  for  she  hath  received  of  the  Lord's 
hand  double  for  all  her  sins." — Isa.  xl.  2. 

How  strange  a  sound  of  comfort !  Is  there  not 
something  grotesque  about  it  ?  To  be  told  that  I 
am  pardoned  is  doubtless  consolatory ;  but  to  be 
told  that  I  am  pardoned  because  I  have  got  double 
punishment  is  surely  fitted  to  irritate  rather  than 
to  please.  Nay,  but  it  is  not  the  punishment  God 
speaks  of;  it  is  the  reparation.  Is  there  any  pure 
soul  that  would  like  to  be  pardoned  without  atone- 
ment, without  paying  back  even  more  than  he 
took  away!  If  I  have  done  my  brother  a  wrong 
and  there  comes  to  me  a  voice  through  the  silent 
air,  "  Be  of  good  cheer,  it  will  be  all  forgiven," 
would  that  really  give  me  cheer  ?  Not  if  mine 
were  a  pure  soul.  I  would  ask  something  more 
than  my  pardon — the  reparation  of  my  wrong.  I 
would  ask  to  pay,  to  pay  more.  I  would  ask  not 
only  to  be  allowed  to  restore,  but  to  be  allowed 
to  enrich — not  simply  to  fill  the  coffers  I  have 
40 


The   Comfort   of  God's   Pardon 

emptied,  but  to  place  a  larger  treasure  in  their 
room.  There  is  no  sweetness  in  my  pardon  until 
I  am  told  that  my  deed  has  been  washed  away. 

From  Thy  hands  alone,  O  Lord,  can  I  receive 
a  pardon  that  shall  comfort,  because  from  Thy 
hands  alone  can  they  whom  I  have  injured  be 
recompensed.  Men  speak  of  Thy  forgiving  love 
in  redeeming  from  the  fires  of  hell,  but  there  is  no 
fire  so  hot  to  me  as  the  remorse  for  yesterday.  I 
have  injured  my  brothers  a  hundred  times.  Some 
of  them  are  beyond  the  reach  of  my  remedy. 
Who  shall  make  it  up  to  them  when  they  have 
passed  out  of  my  hands !  If  it  cannot  be  made 
up  to  them,  it  will  not  be  made  up  to  me.  Pity 
will  not  do  it ;  mercy  will  not  do  it ;  pardon  will 
not  do  it ;  love  will  not  do  it ;  heaven  itself  will 
not  do  it.  If  I  have  caused  eternal  pain,  I  think 
I  would  rather  have  pain  than  joy.  How  could  I 
sit  beside  Lazarus  if  I  knew  that  I  had  helped 
Dives  to  his  seat  below !  Thou  alone  canst  satisfy 
me,  O  Lord.  Only  from  Thy  hands  can  I  receive 
the  reparation  of  my  sin.  Many  of  my  victims 
have  passed  beyond  me ;  but  they  have  not  passed 
beyond  Thee,  Thou  boldest  all  things  in  the 
hollow  of  Thy  hand.  Make  it  up  to  them,  my 
God  !  Pay  them  what  I  owe  !  Recompense  their 
loss  !     Compensate  their  tears  !    Mitigate  the  pain 

.41 


Thoughts   for   Life's  Journey 

which  I  have  brought  them !  Nay,  better,  turn 
the  pain  into  a  glory  !  If  I  have  sent  Jacob  to  He 
on  a  pillow  of  stone,  make  it  to  him  a  place  for 
angels !  If  I  have  driven  Joseph  into  a  dungeon, 
lead  him  through  it  to  a  throne  !  If  I  have  cast 
Moses  on  the  rude  waters,  bear  him  on  their 
bosom  to  a  happy  shore  !  If  I  have  helped  to 
wound  the  Son  of  Man,  make  His  cross  the 
world's  crown  !  My  pardon  shall  be  perfect 
comfort  when  Thou  hast  redeemed  my  sin. 


42 


THE    FEAST    BEFORE    SUFFERING 

"  With  desire  I  have  desired  to  eat  this  passover  with  you 
before  I  suffer." — Luke  xxii.  15. 

Why  had  our  Lord  this  desire  ?  One  would 
think  the  suffering  so  serious  a  thing  as  to  make 
the  passover  a  matter  of  no  account.  Nay  ;  it  was 
just  because  the  suffering  was  so  serious  that  the 
passover  was  of  account.  For  what  is  the  idea  of 
the  passage  ?  It  is  that  joy  is  the  best  preparation 
for  sorrow.  Strange  as  we  may  think  it,  it  is  not 
pain  that  helps  us  to  bear  pain  ;  it  is  the  remains 
of  gladness.  Take  any  moment  of  your  grief,  and 
ask  what  it  is  that  has  kept  you  from  breaking 
down  utterly.  You  will  find  it  is  some  comfort  in 
reserve.  We  are  saved  by  the  patch  of  blue  sky. 
Particularly  are  we  saved  by  the  patch  of  blue  sky 
in  the  firmament  of  love.  It  is  easier  to  bear  a 
thing  when  I  am  surrounded  by  those  whom  I 
love.  I  think  I  could  endure  consciously  a  physical 
operation  if  one  whom  I  loved  were  to  hold  my 
hand.  So  felt  the  Son  of  Man.  He  wanted  to  arm 
Himself  with  sunbeams  before  He  suffered.     He 

43 


Thoughts   for   Life's  Journey 

desired  to  warm  Himself  at  the  fire  of  the  human 
heart  before  He  went  out  into  the  night  cold.  He 
felt  that  the  flood  would  be  easier  to  breast  if  He 
first  saw  the  rainbow  ;  He  sought  to  be  transfigured 
by  the  light  of  joy  ere  He  was  called  to  enter  into 
the  cloud. 

O  Thou  who  still  art  suffering  on  the  cross  of 
human  sin,  let  me  strengthen  Thee  by  my  love ! 
It  is  a  bold  prayer.  We  often  ask  Thy  strength 
for  conflict,  but  Thou  hast  taught  us  that  we  can 
strengthen  Thee.  Thou  art  going  forth  as  of  yore 
up  the  Dolorous  Way  ;  take  the  passover  with  me 
before  Thou  goest  !  Come  into  my  pavilion  and 
warm  Thyself  at  the  fire  !  for  it  is  toward  evening 
and  the  day  is  far  spent.  I  would  anoint  Thee  for 
Thy  burial,  O  Christ.  I  would  bring  Thee  the 
alabaster  box  in  advance  of  the  pain.  I  feel  that 
the  alabaster  box  will  mitigate  the  pain.  There 
are  angels  that  strengthen  us  before  we  suffer  ;  let 
me  be  such  to  Thee  !  Let  me  tell  Thee  of  my  love, 
my  deathless  love  !  Let  me  speak  to  Thee  of  my 
faith,  my  cloudless  faith  !  Let  me  sing  to  Thee  of 
my  hope,  my  immortal  hope!  Let  me  offer  Thee 
on  the  road  to  Jerusalem  the  sight  of  a  fig-tree 
where  the  fruit  is  already  come  !  So  shalt  Thou 
eat  the  passover  before  Thy  suffering,  and  my  hand 
shall  be  privileged  to  pluck  a  thorn  from  Thy  brow. 

44 


THE    EXALTATION    OF    HUMILITY 

"  He  that  shall  humble  himself  shall  be  exalted."  — 
Matt,  xxiii.  12. 

I  DO  not  understand  the  words  to  mean  that  if 
we  begin  by  having  a  low  opinion  of  ourselves, 
God  will  ultimately  give  us  a  high  one.  If  humility 
is  not  to  be  a  permanent  virtue  it  is  hard  to  see 
why  it  should  exist  at  all.  But  I  take  the  words 
to  mean  that  if  a  man  becomes  perfectly  humble 
his  humility  itself  will  become  his  greatness.  Have 
you  ever  felt  what  a  compliment  it  is,  when  a  man 
is  possessed  of  any  special  virtue,  to  be  able  to  say 
of  him,  "  It  is  no  merit ;  he  cannot  help  it !  "  To 
my  mind,  it  is  the  climax  of  all  compliment.  In 
the  world  of  intellect  every  man  would  deem  it  so. 
What  do  we  mean  by  the  word  *'  genius  "  ?  Is  it 
not  simply  that  a  man  cannot  help  being  great  ? 
He  sings  or  paints,  not  because  he  can,  but 
because  he  must,  because  there  is  within  him  a 
breath  of  inspiration  which  will  not  let  him  go 
until  he  has  blessed  the  world.  That  is  genius — 
the  thing  which  all  men  reverence.  They  reverence 

45 


Thoughts   for   Life's  Journey 

the  man  because  he  cannot  help  it,  because  he  is 
dominated  by  a  power  higher  than  his  own.  His 
greatness  is  his  prostration ;  his  glory  is  his 
dependence ;  his  crown  is  the  fact  of  being 
conquered  ;  he  is  exalted  by  humility. 

O  Thou  Divine  Love,  Thou  art  the  genius  of 
the  heart.  The  moment  Thou  comest,  I  say,  "  I 
cannot  help  it."  Before  Thou  comest,  I  have 
power  to  do  good  or  to  do  bad  as  I  like.  But  when 
Thou  enterest,  my  own  will  dies;  it  becomes 
Thine.  And  I  feel  that  when  this  happens  I  am 
not  poorer  but  richer,  that  I  have  not  lost  but 
gained.  I  never  really  prevail  until  my  own  power 
is  lamed  in  the  fight ;  I  never  conquer  till  I  can 
fight  no  more.  Come  and  conquer  me,  Thou 
overmastering  Love  !  It  is  the  wrestling  of  my 
will  against  Thee  that  makes  me  small.  My 
independence  of  Thee  is  my  night ;  I  shall  cease 
to  wrestle  when  the  day  breaks.  I  must  wrestle 
when  I  have  only  duty  and  conscience ;  and  when 
I  win  I  am  proud  of  myself,  for  I  feel  how  difficult 
it  has  been.  But  when  Thou  comest,  O  Love, 
there  will  be  no  difficulty.  I  shall  no  longer  have 
strength  to  strive.  I  shall  lie  passive  upon  Thy 
bosom  ;  I  shall  lean  helpless  on  Thine  arm ;  I 
shall  be  borne  resistless  in  Thy  chariot.  My  pride 
shall  be  that  I  have  no  will  ;  my  soul  shall  make 

46 


The   Exaltation   of  Humility 

its  boast  in  the  Lord;  my  charm  shall  be  my 
chain  ;  my  peace  shall  be  my  prison  ;  my  faith 
shall  be  my  fetters  ;  my  beauty  shall  be  my 
binding ;  my  courage  shall  be  my  constraint ;  my 
strength  shall  be  my  subduing  ;  my  grace  shall  be 
Thy  grasp  upon  my  hand.  Truly  I  am  only 
exalted  in  the  deepest  vale. 


47 


GOD'S    PROMISE    OF    HAPPINESS 

•*  Thou  shalt  make  them  drink  of  the  river  of  Thy  pleasures.** 
— Ps.  XXXVI.  8. 

God  never  keeps  the  best  wine  to  Himself;  He 
makes  His  people  drink  from  the  river  of  His  own 
pleasures.  It  is  a  marvellous  thought  that  a  finite 
creature  should  be  allowed  to  have  infinite  joy. 
What  is  infinite  joy  ?  It  is  not  so  much  joy 
beyond  bounds  as  joy  beyond  boundaries.  It  is 
the  joy  in  everything  that  is  outside  of  myself. 
The  river  of  God's  pleasures  is  the  happiness  in 
others  being  happy.  Its  peculiarity  is  told  in  the 
book  of  Genesis;  it  went  out  of  Eden,  and  from 
thence  it  was  parted,  and  became  four  heads. 
That  is  ever  its  description.  It  will  not  remain 
in  its  own  Eden.  It  goes  out  from  its  personal 
joy.  It  breaks  its  own  unity.  It  insists  on  divid- 
ing itself,  sharing  itself.  Often  have  I  thought 
of  these  words  :  "  When  Thou  shalt  make  His 
soul  an  offering  for  sin,  the  pleasure  of  the  Lord 
shall  prosper  in  His  hands."  One  would  think 
there  was  no  prosperity  about  it.     Was  it  not  a 

48 


God's  Promise  of  Happiness 

sacrifice  ?  Yes  ;  but  the  pleasure  of  the  Lord  is 
sacrifice.  It  is  the  joy  of  giving  joy,  and  therefore 
of  giving  up.  It  is  the  gladness  of  parting  with 
a  portion  of  the  waters.  It  is  the  making  of 
the  wine  of  Cana  by  shedding  the  blood  of 
Calvary. 

My  soul,  do  not  say  to  thyself,  "  What  is  the 
good  of  being  a  Christian  ?  "  It  is  true  those 
who  are  not  have  joy  as  well.  But  thy  Lord 
never  promised  thee  a  monopoly  of  joy  ;  He 
promised  thee  a  monopoly  of  the  river  of  His 
pleasures.  It  is  not  thy  happiness  that  marks 
thee  out ;  it  is  the  kind  of  thy  happiness.  There 
are  joys  which  belong  to  the  world.  They  are 
not  bad  ;  yet  one  need  not  be  a  saint  to  have 
them.  But  this  is  a  joy  which  saints  alone  can 
share.  It  is  unique,  it  is  peculiar,  it  is  the  stamp 
of  Heaven.  There  are  many  ways  of  being  blest ; 
but  it  is  a  s^reat  thing  to  be  the  **  blessed  of  the 
Fath^y^' — tc  hear  the  words,  *'  I  was  hungry  and 
ye  gave  i>Ie  meat ;  I  was  thirsty  and  ye  gave  Me 
drink;  I  was  a  stranger  and  ye  took  Me  in." 
Enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord  !  Enter  into 
the  gladness  of  making  glad  !  Enter  into  the  rest 
of  giving  rest !  Enter  into  the  peace  of  shedding 
peace  !  Launch  thy  boat  on  the  river  that  makes 
glad   God's   city !     Let   the   winter's   ice  of  thy 

19  ^ 


Thoughts  for  Life's  Journey 

heart  be  melted,  even  though  it  be  by  fire,  that 
thou  mayst  embark  in  that  ship  wherein  thy  Lord 
saileth !  The  river  of  God's  pleasure  flovi^s  into 
the  ocean  of  His  love. 


50 


THE    CROSS    NO    LOSS 

••I  am  not  come  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfil."— Matt.  v.  17. 

Christ  is  the  only  physician  of  the  soul  who 
does  not  restore  by  destroying ;  all  other  helpers 
cure  by  lopping  off  a  limb.  It  is  possible  to  cure 
in  such  a  way.  It  is  possible  to  make  me  good 
by  deadening  me.  You  can  stop  my  flight  into 
danger  by  depriving  me  of  my  wing.  Many  a 
child  has  been  made  obedient  by  destroying  its 
power  of  will.  Many  a  youth  has  been  made 
moral  by  the  mere  exhaustion  of  his  passions. 
Many  a  man  has  come  to  long  for  Heaven,  only 
because  he  has  lost  the  chance  of  ambition  on 
earth.  You  may  vanquish  temptation  at  too  dear 
a  price — you  may  become  too  cold  to  feel.  The 
benumbed  heart  will  do  no  wrong.  It  will  neither 
strive  nor  cry,  neither  plot  nor  scheme,  neither 
fret  nor  scold ;  yet  it  is  not  thereby  justified.  It 
strives  not,  because  it  cares  not ;  it  has  no  temp- 
tation, because  it  has  no  desire.     It  has  ceased  to 

51  D  2 


Thoughts   for   Life's  Journey 

hate,  because  it  has  ceased  to  love.    It  is  salvation 
by  death. 

Not  so  is  Thy  coming,  O  Thou  Saviour  of  Men. 
Thou  dost  not  make  the  perfume  by  trampling  on 
the  flower.  Man  often  gets  the  fragrance  of  a 
harmless  life  by  breaking  the  ointment  box.  Not 
so  dost  Thou  call  forth  life's  fragrance.  Not  by 
less,  but  by  more  love,  dost  Thou  save  us ;  not 
by  diminished  life,  but  by  life  "more  abundant," 
dost  Thou  make  us  beautiful.  They  tell  me  that 
Thou  requirest  the  sacrifice  of  self.  Nay,  my 
Lord,  not  its  sacrifice,  but  its  enlargement.  Thou 
breakest  a  wall  in  my  room,  but  it  is  that  I  may 
include  my  brother's  room  in  mine.  Not  to 
destroy,  but  to  fulfil,  has  the  breakage  come.  I 
have  been  living  in  too  small  a  house ;  I  have 
been  failing  to  see  that  my  brother  is  a  part  of 
myself;  I  have  been  cherishing  the  delusion  that 
the  wall  in  my  room  is  the  limit  of  my  interest. 
Therefore,  Thou  hast  broken  my  wall,  and  let  in 
the  light  beyond.  Thou  hast  broken  my  wall  and 
made  me  say,  "  I  and  my  brother  are  one  "  ;  Thou 
hast  broken  my  wall,  and  hast  widened  the  range 
of  my  self-love.  I  have  not  sacrificed  myself;  I 
have  grown  into  a  bigger  self.  I  have  not  lost 
respect  for  the  members  of  my  body,  but  I  have 
added  to  their  number  the  members  of  Thine.     I 

52 


The   Cross   no   Loss 

have  not  ceased  to  care  for  the  calamities  of  life, 
but  I  have  learned  to  say  of  these  calamities, 
**  Inasmuch  as  they  did  it  unto  the  least,  they 
have  done  it  unto  me."  My  soul  has  not  been 
crucified  by  yielding  to  Thy  cross ;  Thou  art  not 
come  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfil. 


53 


THE    UTILITY    OF    BEAUTY 

•'  To  what  purpose  is  this  waste."— Matt.  xxvi.  8. 

This  is  the  earliest  protest  against  external 
beauty  in  the  service  of  Christ.  Mary  was  serving 
Christ's  own  person — pouring  on  His  head  a  rich 
and  costly  perfume.  The  disciples  objected  to  the 
act  on  the  ground  that  it  was  merely  ornamental, 
not  useful.  They  said  that  a  box  of  ointment, 
however  precious,  had  nothing  to  do  with  their 
salvation.  Were  they  not  preparing  for  eternity,  and 
was  not  this  a  perishable  riches  !  Were  they  not 
told  to  seek  the  unseen,  and  was  not  this  a  thing  to 
please  the  eye  !  Were  they  not  taught  that  Jesus 
was  to  be  served  by  spiritual  things,  and  was  not 
this  a  trinket  of  the  hour,  which  would  not  last  an 
hour  !  So  thought  the  earliest  Philistines  in  the 
camp  of  Jesus.  But  they  made  one  great  mistake 
— and  it  has  been  repeated  by  their  successors. 
They  thought  that  a  thing  could  be  beautiful 
without  being  useful.  It  cannot.  To  me  the 
main  value  of  beauty  is  its  usefulness.  I  regard  a 
scene  of  beauty  as  exercising  a  mechanical  power — ■ 

^4 


The   Utility   of  Beauty 

as  mechanical  as  the  steam-engine,  and  more 
effective.  The  steam-engine  can  move  heavy 
bodies ;  but  a  thing  of  beauty  can  move  heavy 
hearts.  Very  unaccountable  is  this  moving  power 
of  beauty;  it  often  acts  without  an  ally.  I  feel 
disconsolate,  pessimistic,  despairing;  I  weigh 
everything  and  find  it  wanting.  Suddenly  there 
streams  a  sunbeam  from  the  hill  and  there  is 
wafted  a  breath  from  the  sea,  and  in  a  moment 
all  is  changed.  My  clouds  vanish  ;  my  pessimism 
melts  ;  my  gloom  dies  away.  Nothing  has 
happened  to  make  it  glide  away — nothing  but  the 
streaming  of  the  sunbeam  and  the  wafting  of 
ocean's  breath.  But  these  are,  for  the  day  and 
hour,  my  Father's  sacraments  to  me.  They  are 
very  fugitive  things — more  fugitive  than  was  the 
ointment  from  the  box  outpoured.  That  special 
sunbeam  was  superseded  by  another  ray.  That 
special  breath  of  ocean  fainted  on  the  bosom  of 
the  hour.  But  they  had  lifted  my  soul  to  a  city 
on  the  hill,  and  when  they  were  gone  my  soul  still 
rested  there.  Who  would  measure  their  use  by 
their  duration  !  One  special  strain  of  music  may 
keep  me  all  night  in  joy. 

My  soul,  despise  not  the  power  of  beauty  !  The 
sunbeam  and  the  song  are  sacraments  of  thy 
Father,     They  are  the  bread  broken  outside  the 

55 


Thoughts  for  Life's  Journey 

church — the  bread  broken  to  the  multitude.  We 
have  our  sacraments  with  Christ;  but  there  are 
times  of  desert  Hfe  when  we  need  our  Father's 
bread.  Uncover  thy  head  before  the  sacrament  of 
beauty !  Bow  reverently  at  the  distribution  of 
Nature's  sacred  elements!  Survey  the  passion  of 
Divine  love  that  meets  thee  in  the  shed  blood  of 
the  sunbeam  !  Behold  the  outpouring  of  the  cup 
that  blesses  thee  in  the  dew  and  the  rain  !  Adore 
the  universal  communion  that  makes  its  light  to 
rise  on  the  evil  and  the  good!  Forget  not  at 
morn  or  evening  to  keep  thy  Father's  feast ;  for 
the  wafting  of  ocean's  breath  is  the  wafting  of  the 
Father's  incense,  and  the  breaking  of  the  sunbeam 
is  the  breaking  of  the  Father's  bread. 


S6 


THE    MINISTRY    OF   JOY    TO    GRIEF 

••  There  shall  be  no  night  there." — Rev.  xxi,  25. 

How,  then,  can  there  be  a  serving  of  the 
sorrowful  ?  You  tell  me  that  heaven  is  a  land  of 
ministration.  How  can  it  be  so  if  my  heart  is  to 
have  the  joy  of  morning  ?  Can  joy  minister  to 
grief?  Yes,  joy  alone  can.  It  is  not  night  that 
ministers  to  night ;  it  is  nightlessness.  To  meet 
the  clouds  of  others  I  should  myself  be  clear.  If 
I  have  lost  a  child  and  my  neighbour  across  the 
street  has  lost  a  child,  the  common  experience 
does  not  itself  make  either  of  us  helpful  to  the 
other.  To  be  helpful  to  my  neighbour  it  is  not 
enough  that  I  have  passed  into  the  same  valley ; 
I  must  have  passed  through.  "  Yea,  though  I  walk 
through  the  valley  "  is  a  saying  of  deep  significance. 
It  is  not  the  darkness  that  makes  me  a  comforter ; 
it  is  seeing  the  exit  at  the  foot  of  the  lane.  It  is 
being  able  to  say,  "/  have  passed  through;  you 
will  also." 

O  Thou  who  art  training  me  to  be  a  ministering 
spirit,  let  me  enter  into  Thy  joy !     Ere  I  go  with 

57 


Thoughts   for   Life's  Journey 

Thee  into  the  wilderness,  let  me  stand  with  Thee 
by  the  glad  streams  of  Jordan  ;  let  me  see  the 
opened  heavens  and  the  descending  dove  !  It  was 
by  the  joy  set  before  Thee  that  Thou  didst  bear 
my  cross  ;  how  else  shall  I  bear  Thine  I  Thou 
hast  said  that  Thy  yoke  of  ministration  is  easy 
and  its  burden  light ;  but  to  whom  ?  To  those 
who  have  found  rest  to  their  souls.  Thou  hast 
bidden  me  learn  of  Thee;  and  that  is  Thy 
experience.  It  was  the  gleam  of  Olivet  that  made 
possible  Thy  Calvary.  In  vain  shall  I  seek  my 
brother's  night  if  there  is  night  in  my  own  soul. 
In  vain  shall  I  stand  by  when  he  drinks  the  cup 
of  sorrow,  in  vain  shall  I  participate  in  his  cup  of 
sorrow,  if  I  have  not  seen  the  sparkle  in  the  bitter 
draught.  Show  me  that  sparkle,  O  Lord  !  Reveal 
to  me  the  sunlight  in  the  cup !  I  would  not  go 
forth  to  help  the  sad  on  the  mere  ground  that  I 
have  myself  been  sad.  I  would  see  Thy  crown  in 
my  own  waters  before  I  say  to  my  brother,  "  Peace, 
be  still."  Reveal  to  me  Thy  gold  ere  I  go  !  Let 
me  stand  with  Thee  one  hour  on  the  mountain 
ere  I  descend  to  meet  the  valley  !  Let  me  catch 
the  morning  rays  ere  I  confront  the  evening 
shadows  !  My  heart  will  be  a  minister  to  the 
night  when  there  is  no  night  there. 


58 


THE    CITY    OF    GOD 

••New  Jerusalem,  which  cometh  down  out  of  heaven."— 
Rev.  III.  12. 

All  the  old  Jerusalems  go  tip.  The  cities  of 
this  world  are  ambitious  to  beautify  themselves. 
They  have  the  pride  of  the  Tower  of  Babel.  So 
eager  are  they  to  ascend  that  the  upper  part  of 
them  leaves  the  lower  behind,  and  there  is  a  great 
gulf  fixed  between  rich  and  poor.  The  Jerusalems 
of  earth  are  ever  flying  from  their  lowly  places — 
sending  their  best  men  into  the  heights  where  they 
shall  escape  the  cry  of  the  vulgar  crowd.  But  it 
is  not  so  with  the  New  Jerusalem,  the  city  of  my 
God.  This  has  ever  a  descending  attitude.  Its 
goal  is  toward  the  places  from  which  the  cities  of 
the  world  wish  to  fly  ;  it  moves  downward.  It  is 
afraid  to  reap  a  solitary  privilege,  a  privilege  not 
shared  by  all.  It  knows  well  that  its  high  places 
must  catch  the  sun  ;  but  it  wants  its  vales  to  catch 
it  too.  It  is  anxious  for  the  masses — those  that 
toil  and  spin,  those  that  hunger  and  thirst,  those 
that  work  and  weep.     It  would  bring  the  grapes 

59 


Thoughts   for   Life's  Journey 

of  Eshcol  to  the  Hps  that  are  parched,  the  rose  of 
Sharon  to  the  eyes  that  are  weary,  the  chariots  of 
Israel  to  the  feet  that  are  lame.  It  would  take 
foundling  children  to  the  arms  of  shelter.  It  would 
bring  the  leper  from  the  tombs.  It  would  lead 
blind  Bartimseus  from  the  cold  streets.  It  would 
make  a  place  for  the  beggar  Lazarus  within  the 
gates.  It  would  let  Christ  speak  to  the  demoniac. 
It  would  give  penitent  Peter  a  new  commission 
after  his  great  denial.  It  would  light  a  warm  fire 
for  Magdalene  when  she  has  washed  the  Divine 
feet  with  her  tears. 

Thou  art  descending,  O  city  of  God  ;  I  see  thee 
coming  nearer  and  nearer.  Tongues  are  dead, 
prophecies  are  dying ;  but  charity  is  born.  Our 
castles  rise  into  the  air  and  vanish  ;  but  love  is 
bending  lower  every  day.  Man  says,  *'  Let  us 
make  a  tower  on  earth  which  shall  reach  unto 
heaven  " ;  but  God  says,  "  Let  us  make  a  tower  in 
heaven  which  shall  reach  unto  earth."  O  descend- 
ing city,  O  humanitarian  city,  O  city  for  the  out- 
cast and  forlorn,  we  hail  thee,  we  greet  thee,  we 
meet  thee  !  All  the  isles  wait  for  thee — the  lives 
riven  from  the  mainland — the  isolated,  shunted, 
stranded  lives  !  They  sing  a  new  song  at  thy 
coming,  and  the  burden  of  its  music  is  this,  "  He 
hath  prepared  for  me  a  city  "  ! 

60 


THE    FAULT    OF    OUR    FIRST 
ASPIRINGS 

"  Let  us  build  a  tower,  whose  top  may  reach  unto  heaven."— 
Gen.  XI.  4. 

When  man  uttered  these  words,  he  was  a  child. 
Children  are  very  ambitious — more  ambitious  than 
grown-up  people.  Grown-up  people  ask  things 
that  are  possible ;  children  cry  for  the  supernatural. 
I  think  our  sen-^e  of  power  increases  in  proportion 
as  we  are  undeveloped.  One  would  imagine  that 
a  little  child,  coming  within  the  gates  of  this 
universe,  would  have  a  startled  feeling,  and  that 
the  startled  feeling  would  gradually  wear  off  as  he 
advanced  on  life's  journey.  In  truth,  it  is  all  the 
reverse ;  we  get  startled  as  we  go.  Our  first  view 
of  the  golden  gates  is  not  appalling ;  it  frightens 
neither  the  child  nor  the  savage.  I  do  not  think 
wonder  belongs  to  the  earliest  mind  either  of  race 
or  individual.  To  both  alike  the  sky  can  be  scaled  ; 
the  motto  of  each  is  this,  ''  Let  us  make  a  tower, 
whose  top  may  reach  unto  heaven  1  "  This  world 
is  a  place  where  human  beings  are  taught  to  climb ; 

61 


Thoughts   for   Life's  Journey 

but  it  is  to  climb  down.  It  is  quite  natural  for  us  to 
go  up.  The  writer  of  the  Book  of  Job  says,  "  Man 
is  born  to  trouble,  as  the  sparks  fly  upward."  I 
think  he  must  have  meant,  *'  Man  is  born  to  fly  up- 
ward like  the  sparks,  and  therefore  he  is  troubled." 
At  all  events,  that  is  true.  Our  early  dangers  come 
from  our  early  daringness — not  from  our  early 
feebleness.  Young  Adam  always  begins  with  the 
biggest  tree  and  always  gets  a  fall.  God's  educa- 
tion of  the  earth  is  a  series  of  lessons  in  "  how^  to 
descend"— in  the  moderation  of  desire.  Christian 
prayer  itself  is  a  moderation  of  desire.  It  is  a 
refusal  any  longer  to  say  of  everything,  *'  It  is 
mine."  It  is  the  refusal  to  ask  that  which  will  lift 
me  above  other  people.  It  is  the  cry  to  have  my 
garments  parted  among  the  multitude.  It  is  the 
impulse,  the  determination,  the  instinct,  \o  share. 

Lord,  break  my  primitive  tower !  It  is  built 
with  a  child's  arrogance — not  with  a  man's 
humility  ;  break  my  primitive  tower  !  My  feeblest 
moments  are  my  most  grasping  moments — I  am 
never  such  an  egotist  as  in  the  cradle ;  break  my 
primitive  tower !  Like  the  sparks,  I  have  been 
born  to  fly  upwards,  and  to  leave  my  brother 
behind.  I  need  a  second  birth — a  power  to  fly 
downward.  I  need  more  weight  on  the  wings; 
every  weight  will  be  to  me  "  a  weight  of  glory." 

62 


The   Fault  of  Our   First  Aspirings 

The  glory  of  the  bird  is  its  boundlessness ;  but  the 
glory  of  the  man  is  his  boundary.  Limit  my 
desires,  O  Lord !  Restrain  the  flight  of  my 
personal  prayers  !  Put  a  weight  on  the  wings  of 
each  individual  wish — the  remembrance  of  my 
brother !  In  my  childhood  I  cried  for  all  things ; 
in  manhood  I  dare  not.  I  can  still  pray  without 
ceasing,  but  I  can  no  longer  pray  without  limit. 
What  if  I  ask  the  gold  that  was  meant  for  another  ! 
What  if  I  seek  the  place  that  was  made  for 
another  !  What  if  I  claim  the  work  that  was 
planned  for  another!  Methinks  the  pauses  of 
prayer  are  more  noble  than  its  flights.  In  these 
pauses  I  say,  "  Not  my  will,  but  Thine."  Are 
they  not  to  Thee  the  finest  parts  of  the  music,  O 
my  Father !  There  is  no  architecture  so  beautiful 
to  Thee  as  my  arrested  tower — my  tower  arrested 
that  another  may  have  room.  Never  let  me  build, 
even  in  my  prayers,  a  house  with  so  many 
mansions  for  myself  that  I  cannot  say  to  my 
brother,  *'  I  have  prepared  a  place  (or  you  '*  1 


63 


THE  THREE  CHORDS  OF  LOVE 

"Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and 
with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind." — Matt.  xxii.  37. 

There  are  three  kinds  of  love — perhaps  rather 
I  should  say,  three  instruments  on  which  love 
plays.  It  may  manifest  itself  through  the  heart, 
through  the  soul,  or  through  the  mind.  My  love 
for  you  may  be  either  practical,  admiring,  or 
communing.  The  love  of  the  heart  is  practical ; 
it  ministers  in  common  things.  The  love  of  the 
soul  is  admiration  ;  it  looks  upon  a  far-off  glory 
and  longs  to  be  near  it.  The  love  of  the  mind  is 
communion  ;  it  has  touched  a  point  of  equality 
with  its  object ;  it  can  listen  and  respond.  A 
mother's  love  for  her  child  is  that  of  the  heart ;  it 
is  helpful.  A  poet's  love  for  Nature  is  that  of  the 
soul ;  it  is  wondering,  admiring.  A  friend's  love 
for  a  friend  is  that  of  the  mind ;  it  is  intellectual 
sympathy — communion.  I  think  our  love  for  God 
plays  successively  each  of  these  tunes.  We  begin 
with  the  heart ;  we  say,  ''  Our  Father  ";  we  try  to 
work  for  our  Father.  By-and-by  the  vision  of  wonder 

64 


The   Three   Chords   of  Love 

breaks  upon  us — the  love  of  the  soul ;  we  bow  with 
admiration  before  the  mysteries  of  the  universe. 
At  last  comes  the  glad  morning — the  love  of  the 
mind  ;  we  begin  to  know  God — to  commune  with 
Him,  to  speak  with  Him  face  to  face  as  a  man 
speaketh  with  his  friend.  That  is  the  manhood 
of  our  love. 

My  God,  I  long  to  reach  this  third  stage — this 
summer  of  my  pilgrimage.     I  have  seen  Thee  as  a 
child  sees  its  father ;  it  was  a  sweet  feeling,  yet  it 
was  a  feehng  of  dependence — it  did  not  bring  me 
quite  near  Thee.     I  have  seen  Thee  again  as  the 
poet  sees  his  promised  land  of  beauty ;  it  was  a 
grand  vision,  yet  it  was  a  vision  which  dwarfed  the 
passing    day,  which   overshadowed  the  common 
hour.      I  want  more  than  that.     I  want  to  feel 
Thee  by  my  side,  to  walk  with  Thee,  to  talk  with 
Thee.     I  may  love  with  the  heart  where  I  have  no 
communion  of  mind ;    I  may  love  with  the  soul 
where  I  have  imperfect  communion  of  mind  ;  but 
to  love  with  the  mind  is  to  understand.     Not  my 
sense  of  dependence  is  Thy  deepest  joy;  not  my 
gaze  of  wonder  is  Thy  brightest  sunshine.     The 
love  that  lights  Thee  most  is  the  love  that  can 
understand  Thee — the  love  of  the  mind.     I  would 
be  called  no  more  servant,  but  friend.     Hitherto 
I  have  been  content  to  receive  Thy  protection ;  but 
65  E 


Thoughts  for  Life's  Journey 

that  will  not  break  Thy  solitude.  If  I  am  always 
to  be  a  child,  there  will  be  no  companionship  for 
Thee.  Shalt  Thou  tread  the  winepress  alone — 
with  none  to  understand  Thee  !  Shall  Thy 
Gethsemane  hour  have  only  my  pity,  only  my 
wonder  !  I  have  seen  a  child  weep  for  its  father's 
pain  without  knowing  why  its  father  grieved ;  it 
was  the  love  of  the  heart,  but  not  yet  the  love  of 
the  mind.  Not  so  would  I  come  into  Thy  Garden, 
O  God.  I  would  come  to  comprehend  Thee,  to 
know  Thee,  to  appreciate  Thee.  I  would  forget 
my  dependence.  I  would  rise  into  Thy  fellowship. 
Thy  communion.  I  would  cease  to  follow;  I 
would  walk  side  by  side.  I  would  share  Thy 
burden ;  I  would  adopt  Thy  name  ;  I  would 
assimilate  Thine  accent  ;  I  would  appropriate 
Thy  cause.  Give  me  this  final  love,  this  mental 
love,  O  Lord ;  for  he  that  loves  Thee  with  the 
mmd  loves  Thee  also  with  the  heart  and  with  the 
soul. 


66 


COMFORT    IN    PROSTRATION 

••Thou  compassest  my  lying  down." — Ps.  cxxxix.  3. 

Our  moments  of  "  lying  down  "  are  not  generally 
deemed  Divine  moments.  We  can  understand  the 
previous  words,  "Thou  compassest  my  path,'* — 
my  walk  of  life.  That  is  a  sphere  of  action — 
where  it  is  possible  for  us  to  do  great  things.  But 
that  our  times  of  quiescence  should  be  times  of 
Divine  interest,  that  our  seasons  of  inaction 
should  be  seasons  of  the  presence  of  God — this  is 
strange  indeed !  Yes,  and  it  is  as  comforting  as 
it  is  strange.  You  and  I  are  often  called  to 
experience  these  moments  of  "  lying  down." 
There  are  times  when,  in  the  language  of  another 
psalm,  our  strength  is  *'  weakened  in  the  way." 
There  are  seasons  when  we  have  to  leave  the  path 
and  go  home — go  into  retirement,  into  solitude, 
into  seeming  uselessness.  And  the  hardest  part 
of  these  moments  is  just  the  sense  of  having 
missed  our  destiny.  We  have  been  shunted  from 
the  path,  we  have  been  made  to  lie  down ;  and 
it  seems  to  us  as  if  God  had  no   further  place 

67  E  2 


Thoughts   for  Life's  Journey 

for  us  beneath  the  circle  of  the  sun.  What  a 
comfort  at  such  moments  are  these  words  of  the 
ancient  psalmist,  ''  Thou  compassest  my  lying 
down"!  They  tell  us  that  the  quiescent  hour 
may  be  a  Divine  hour,  that  the  seemingly  useless 
moment  may  be  full  of  God.  They  tell  us  that 
the  greatest  day  of  our  life  may  be  the  day  after 
we  have  quitted  the  path — the  day  of  our  prostra- 
tion, our  pain,  our  weariness.  They  tell  us  that 
the  places  where  we  are  forced  to  lie  down  may 
be  God's  green  pastures,  that  the  coming  to  quiet 
waters  may  be  God's  own  leading.  The  hour 
which  our  soul  is  rejecting  may  be  the  hour  when 
the  kingdom  has  come. 

O  Christ  of  Calvary,  in  my  days  of  valley  and 
shadow  help  me  to  feel  that  '*Thou  art  with  me'M 
It  is  not  enough  for  me  to  feel  that,  one  day,  there 
will  be  mountain  and  sunshine.  No ;  that  is  only 
to  say  Thou  wilt  be  with  me  in  the  future.  I  want 
Thee  now.  What  I  need  is  not  help  to  leave  the 
valley  nor  help  to  clear  the  shadow.  I  want  to 
feel  that  Thou  art  in  the  valley,  that  Thou  art  in 
the  shadow.  I  want  my  "  lying  down  "  itself  lo 
be  glorified.  It  is  something  to  know  that  Thou 
wilt  raise  me  up  at  the  last  day — on  the  day  when 
my  disciphne  is  completed  ;  but  it  is  not  enough  for 
me.     Is  the  time  of  my  rest  to  be  Godless — without 

68 


Comfort  in   Prostration 

Thy  presence  !  Is  my  valley  to  be  a  waste  place, 
a  useless  place,  a  place  where  Thou  art  not !  Is 
my  shadow  to  be  an  eclipse  of  Thee ^  a  blotting  out  of 
Thee  !  It  is  not  enough  to  know  that  to-morrow 
the  cup  will  pass  ;  I  must  be  able  to  feel,  with 
Thee,  that  to-day  it  is  "  the  cup  my  Father  has 
given  me."  Reveal  to  me  the  glory  of  Gethsemane  1 
Reveal  to  me  the  majesty  of  my  desert  hour! 
Reveal  to  me  the  ladder  of  angels  that  rose  from 
my  couch  of  clay!  Reveal  to  me  the  Bethlehem 
songs  that  came  from  my  midnight  silence! 
Reveal  to  me  the  multitudes  in  my  wilderness — 
the  crowds  that  waited  on  me  when  I  thought 
myself  alone  !  My  life  will  be  robbed  of  half  its 
weariness  when  I  see  Thee  compassing  my  "lying 
down." 


69 


THE  CAUSE  OF  SLOW  PROGRESS 

■•  I  have  loved  Thee  with  an  everlasting  love ;  therefore  with 
lovingkindness  have  I  drawn  Thee." — Jer.  xxxi.  3. 

I  UNDERSTAND  the  word  "  drawn  *'  to  be  used 
here  as  the  opposite  of  "  driven."  I  take  the 
meaning  to  be :  "  It  is  because  I  love  you  that  I 
do  not  force  you ;  I  desire  to  win  by  love."  We 
often  express  surprise  that  human  life  does  not 
reveal  more  traces  of  God's  omnipotence.  We 
see  the  visible  universe  subject  to  inexorable  law 
and  yielding  submissively  to  that  law.  But  man 
does  not  yield  submissively ;  he  resists  the  will  of 
the  Eternal.  Why  should  he  be  allowed  to  resist  ? 
Is  he  not  but  an  atom  in  the  infinite  spaces — these 
spaces  that  obey  the  heavenly  mandate  ?  Why 
not  put  down  his  insane  rebellion  and  crush  his 
proud  will  into  conformity  with  the  universal 
chorus  ?  The  Bible  gives  its  answer.  It  is 
because  love  is  incompatible  with  the  exercise  of 
omnipotence.  Inexorable  law  can  rule  the  stars ; 
but  the  stars  are  not  an  object  of  love.  Man  is  an 
object  of  love,  and  therefore  he  can  only  be  ruled 

70 


The   Cause   of  Slow   Progress 

by  love — as  the  prophet  puts  it,  **  drawn."  Nothing 
is  a  conquest  for  love  but  the  power  of  drawing. 
Omnipotence  can  subdue  by  driving — but  that  is 
not  a  conquest  for  love ;  it  is  rather  a  sign  that 
love  is  baffled.  Therefore  it  is  that  our  Father 
does  not  compel  us  to  come  in.  He  would  have  us 
**  drawn "  by  the  beauty  of  holiness ;  therefore 
He  veils  all  that  would  force  the  will.  He  hides 
the  glories  of  Heaven.  He  conceals  the  gates  of 
pearl  and  the  streets  of  gold.  He  reveals  not  the 
river  of  His  pleasures.  He  curtains  from  the  ear 
the  music  of  the  upper  choir.  He  obscures  in  the 
sky  the  sign  of  the  Son  of  Man.  He  forbids  the 
striking  of  the  hours  on  the  clock  of  Eternity.  He 
treads  on  a  path  of  velvet  lest  the  sound  of  His 
coming  footsteps  should  conquer  by  fear  the  heart 
that  ought  to  be  won  by  love. 

O  Thou  whose  name  is  Love,  it  is  by  that 
name  alone  I  can  explain  why  things  move  so 
slow.  But  in  the  light  of  that  name  I  understand ; 
the  pauses  become  musical,  the  halts  are  stages  of 
the  march.  I  have  heard  a  man  express  the  wish 
to  be  in  Thy  place  for  one  day ;  he  thought  he 
would  reform  Thy  universe.  He  would  have 
spoiled  it.  He  would  have  conquered  the  refrac- 
tory child  by  killing  its  will.  Not  thus  would  Thy 
Divine  Fatherhood  be  victorious.  Thou  wouldst 
71 


Thoughts   for   Life's  Journey 

rather  draw  by  the  cross  than  drive  by  the  crown. 
Often  it  seems  to  me  that  this  world  of  Thine 
appeals  more  to  the  heart  than  to  any  other  part 
of  my  nature.  It  is  not  all  beautiful,  it  is  not  all 
poetical,  it  is  not  all  intelligible,  it  is  not  all 
practical ;  but  it  is  every  inch  pathetic.  There  is 
pathos  in  the  starry  night ;  there  is  pathos  in  the 
moaning  sea ;  there  is  pathos  in  the  monotonous 
stream  ;  there  is  pathos  in  the  song  of  birds; 
there  is  pathos  in  the  human  tear  ;  there  is  pathos 
even  in  the  rolling  wheels  of  daily  labour.  Thou 
art  leading  me  by  weary  paths — paths  where  I 
feel  my  brother's  pain,  paths  where  I  touch  my 
brother's  thorn.  Had  I  been  a  butterfly  Thou 
wouldst  have  tempted  me  by  roses  and  hurried  me 
through  the  field ;  but  because  I  am  a  man  Thou 
hast  drawn  me  by  the  slow  cord — the  winning  of 
my  heart. 


72 


CHRISTIAN    MESMERISM 

••When  I  am  weak,  then  am  I  strong." — 2  Cor.  xii.  10 

What  does  Paul  mean  ?  Does  he  mean  that  a 
man  is  stronger  in  proportion  to  his  infirmities  ? 
No ;  the  weakness  Paul  speaks  of  is  not  infirmity  ; 
it  is  self-surrender.  What  he  says  is  that  nothing 
helps  a  man  to  bear  a  burden  so  much  as  the 
captivity  of  the  heart  to  a  separate  influence.  We 
see  a  practical  illustration  of  this  in  the  modern 
process  called  hypnotism  —  now  accepted  as 
scientific.  The  subject  of  it  is  deemed  a  weakling 
because  he  gives  up  his  will  to  another ;  yet  he 
can  often  do  in  his  weakness  what  he  could  not  do 
in  his  strength — he  generally  surpasses  his  normal 
self.  Paul  says,  "  My  greatest  strength  has  come 
from  moments  of  Divine  hypnotism  ;  I  have  never 
been  so  able  to  bear  my  burden  as  when  my  will 
has  been  absolutely  enthralled  by  the  beauty  of 
another — that  peerless  Other — Christ."  And  who 
does  not  feel  with  Paul  that  the  best  cure  for  a 
burden  is  not  the  conscious  struggle  with  it,  but 
my  surrender  to  something  else.     It  makes  a  great 

73 


Thoughts   for   Life's   ^ourney 

difference  to  tne  length  of  a  journey  whether  you 
are  walking  for  your  health  or  walking  for  converse 
with  me.  The  length  of  the  j-^urney  is  in  the 
former  case  a  burden ;  and  it  is  an  exact  type  of 
all  the  burdens  of  life.  The  burdens  of  two  men 
may  be  physically  equal ;  their  amount  may  be 
the  same,  their  weight  the  same.  Yet  the  sense  of 
heaviness  may  be  very  different.  He  who  lifts  in 
love  will  lift  easily.  He  will  have  a  power  coming 
from  his  weakness — from  the  captivity  of  his  will. 
His  weight  will  be  his  wing,  his  fetter  will  be  his 
force,  his  prison  will  be  his  power ;  like  the  phoenix 
bird,  he  will  rise  from  his  own  ashes  ;  his  strength 
will  be  perfected  in  weakness. 

Make  me  Thy  captive,  O  Christ,  and  I  shall  be 
free.  Bind  me  with  Thy  chain,  and  I  shall  be 
slave  to  none  beside.  There  are  no  moments  in 
which  I  am  so  weak  as  when  my  love  is  low. 
When  my  heart  has  no  master,  my  life  is  mastered 
by  all  things.  I  have  heard  men  ask  how  much 
water  would  be  deep  enough  to  drown  them.  I 
have  found  that  a  pool  would  be  deep  enough  for 
me  without  Thee.  I  have  found  that  any  calamity 
would  be  overwhelming  if  I  had  nothing  to  think 
of  but  itself — but  w^self.  It  is  not  the  weight  of 
my  affliction  that  kills  me  ;  it  is  its  monopoly — its 
entire  possession  of  my  soul.  Break  that  monopoly, 

74 


Christian  Mesmerism 

O  Lord !  Withdraw  my  heart  from  the  sole 
companionship  with  its  grief!  I  shall  never  be 
emancipated  from  any  sorrow  except  by  a  new 
fetter.  I  shall  never  conquer  my  pain  till  Thou 
hast  conquered  my  heart.  Bring  me  Thy  golden 
bonds — love's  bonds!  Bring  me  Thy  silken  cord 
— the  cord  of  devotion  !  Bring  me  Thy  sparkling 
chain — the  chain  of  sympathy!  There  is  no 
mesmerist  like  my  love.  In  Thee  I  can  forget  my 
pain.  In  Thee  I  can  taste  the  bitter  as  sweet.  In 
Thee  I  can  see  new  visions  on  the  old  spot.  In 
Thee  I  can  become  impervious  to  cold,  to  hunger, 
to  weariness.  In  Thee  I  can  lose  my  natural  fears. 
In  Thee  I  can  speak  with  tongues — I  who  was 
once  too  timid  to  speak  at  all.  If  only  I  shall 
steadfastly  gaze  into  Thy  lace,  if  only  I  shall 
perfectly  give  up  my  will  to  Thine,  I  shall  be 
**  changed  into  the  same  image  from  glory  to 
glory/*     Mesmerise  my  will,  O  Lord  I 


75 


THE  CHRISTIAN   SOLDIER'S  SHIELD 

••  Forasmuch  then  as  Christ  hath  suffered  for  us  in  the  flesh, 
arm  yourselves  likewise  with  the  same  mind." — i  Peter  iv.  i. 

These  words  were  spoken  to  a  military  empire. 
They  were  spoken  amid  a  people  who  had  raised 
themselves  by  the  practice  of  arms.  To  such  a 
race  the  exhortation  must  have  been  startling. 
It  promised  a  new  kind  of  armour,  a  new  species 
of  defence.  Such  a  promise  must  have  made  the 
Roman  start  and  look  round.  But  when  he  saw 
the  proposed  armour  he  must  have  laughed.  It 
had  neither  length,  breadth,  nor  thickness.  It 
could  not  inflict  a  single  wound  upon  an  enemy. 
Nay,  it  was  itself  a  wound.  The  very  putting  of  it 
on  involved  mutilation  to  the  man  who  wore  it. 
*'  Forasmuch  as  Christ  hath  suffered  in  the  flesh, 
arm  yourselves  therefore  with  the  same  mind." 
We  can  understand  a  Christian  exhorted  to  the 
spirit  of  sacrifice  ;  but  is  not  that  an  exhortation 
to  divest  yourself  of  armour !  The  novelty  of 
Peter's  exhortation  does  not  lie  in  being  told  to 
cultivate  the  mind  of  Jesus,  but  in  being  told  that 

76 


The    Christian    Soldier's   Shield 

the  mind  of  Jesus  is  a  source  of  Roman  defence. 
We  all  admit  sacrifice  to  be  a  virtue,  but  we  never 
think  of  it  as  a  panoply.  We  have  recognised  it 
as  a  capacity  to  yield,  but  we  are  not  accustomed 
to  view  it  as  a  capacity  to  resist.  And  yet  Peter 
is  right.  There  is  no  power  that  resists  danger 
like  the  sacrificial  powder  of  love.  If  ever  a  man 
learned  this  by  experience  it  was  Peter.  When- 
ever he  b5gan  to  sink  it  was  from  internal  causes. 
He  went  out  to  meet  in  the  morning  a  storm  from 
which  he  recoiled  at  night.  Why  ?  Had  the 
storm  increased  in  violence  with  the  circling 
hours  ?  No.  It  was  exactly  the  same  as  in  the 
morning — no  less,  no  more.  But  in  the  interval 
there  was  something  which  had  increased — Peter's 
sacrificial  love.  He  had  begun  to  be  self-conscious. 
He  had  turned  his  gaze  from  Jesus ;  he  had 
directed  his  eye  to  the  winds  and  the  sea.  There- 
fore the  winds  and  the  sea  became  too  strong  for 
him  ;  he  had  lost  his  life-belt. 

Put  on  thine  armour,  O  my  soul — the  armour 
of  self-sacrifice !  Not  by  self-mutilation  canst  thou 
put  it  on  ;  thy  sacrifice  must  come  not  from  thy 
grief  but  from  thy  joy.  There  is  a  sacrifice  which 
comes  from  grief,  but  it  is  not  an  armour.  Many 
have  fled  from  the  world  through  disappointment; 
yet  the  world  has  followed  them  into  their  solitude. 

77 


Thoughts   for  Life's  Journey 

But  thy  sacrifice  must  come  from  gladness,  from 
the  greatest  joy  of  the  heart — love.  Thine  armour 
must  be  the  breastplate  of  love.  No  selfish 
thought  will  protect  thee  from  the  sea  of  tempta- 
tion. Fear  of  sickness  may  defend  thee  for  an 
hour  ;  dread  of  public  opinion  may  support  thee 
for  a  day ;  but  these  are  swords  that  soon  become 
blunted.  Wouldst  thou  have  an  armour  against 
temptation  that  will  keep  thee  always,  every  where  ? 
Get  the  love  of  some  one  pure !  Set  thy  heart 
upon  a  high  ideal ;  paint  it  in  the  fairest  colours ; 
deck  it  with  fancy's  loveliest  gems  !  Think  of  it 
in  the  silence  ;  speak  to  it  in  the  secrecy  ;  dream 
of  it  in  the  night ;  above  all,  walk  with  it  in  the 
market-place  !  Then — call  it  by  what  name  thou 
wilt,  it  will  be  Christ  to  thee.  Thou  wilt  refuse 
the  flowers  of  evil;  thou  wilt  reject  sin's  gilded 
cup;  thou  wilt  decline  pride's  glittering  bauble. 
Thine  abstinence  will  come  from  thine  aspiration  ; 
thy  restraint  will  flow  from  the  river  of  thy 
pleasures;  thy  sacrifice  will  be  the  fruit  of  thy 
song.  Nothing  can  crucify  the  flesh  like  the  joy 
of  the  spirit. 


78 


THE    IMPOTENCE    WHICH    IS    DIVINE 

"  He  saved  others  ;  himself  he  cannot  save." — Matt,  xxvii 
42. 

There  is  a  great  difference  between  inability 
and  incapacity.  Incapacity  is  the  absence  of  a 
power;  inability  may  come  from  the  presence  of  a 
power.  There  are  two  things  which  may  make  a 
man  say,  '^  I  cannot  " — too  little  hfe  or  too  much 
life.  Let  us  say  there  is  a  storm  at  sea.  The 
ship  is  in  the  last  stage  of  dilapidation.  The 
life-boats  have  been  lowered  and  occupied.  So  full 
are  they  that  there  is  only  room  for  one  passenger 
more;  and  there  are  two  yet  remaining  on  the 
vessel.  One  of  these  is  a  paralytic  ;  like  the  man 
at  the  pool  of  Bethesda,  he  has  been  unfit  to  push 
forward  ;  he  cannot  save  himself.  The  other  man 
has  full  strength  of  limb  and  could  take  the  leap 
in  a  moment ;  but  he  has  infinite  pity  for  the 
paralytic;  he  feels  bound  to  help  him  into  the 
boat ;  he,  too,  cannot  save  himself.  Now,  what 
is  the  difference  between  these  two  ?  It  is  not  a 
difterence  in  the  degree  of  helplessness.     Both  are 

79 


Thoughts   for  Life's  Journey 

equally  helpless.  The  contrast  lies  in  the  cause 
of  their  helplessness.  That  of  the  paralytic  comes 
from  a  sense  of  weakness;  that  of  the  other  comes 
from  the  sense  of  a  great  strength — human  love. 
The  one  is  unfit  to  save  himself  by  reason  of 
impotence ;  the  other  is  unfit  to  save  himself  by 
reason  of  power — power  driving  him  in  another 
direction.  The  motto  of  the  one  is,  "  The  flesh  is 
weak;"  the  motto  of  the  other  is  the  French 
saying,  "Noblesse  oblige" — the  dignity  of  my 
nature  makes  it  impossible  for  me  to  do  a  mean 
or  ignoble  thing. 

Son  of  Man,  Thou  art  never  so  Divine  to  me  as 
in  the  hour  of  Thine  impotence.  Not  on  the  Mount 
of  wondrous  accents,  not  on  the  Lake  of  wondrous 
deeds,  not  in  the  Desert  of  wondrous  charities,  art 
Thou  to  me  so  glorious.  All  spots  even  of  Thy 
journey  have  paled  before  the  hill  of  Calvary. 
Hermon  has  faded;  Tabor  has  grown  dim; 
Gennesaret's  waves  have  lost  their  music — but  the 
hill  of  Calvary  keeps  green.  We  worship  no  hour 
even  of  Thine  like  the  hour  of  Thy  disrobing. 
Whither  do  the  tribes  of  earth  go  up  ?  Not  to 
the  songs  of  Bethlehem,  not  to  the  voice  from 
heaven,  not  to  the  wine  of  Cana,  not  to  the  ruling 
of  the  storm,  not  to  Bethsaida's  banquet,  not  to 
Galilee's  gathering,  not  to  Jerusalem's  shouts  of 

80 


The   Impotence   which   is    Divine 

joy.  They  come  to  the  hushed  hosannas;  they 
come  to  the  withered  palm  leaves ;  they  come  to 
the  broken  heart.  They  bring  their  anthem  to 
Thy  blood,  their  laurel  to  Thy  grave,  their  spices 
to  Thy  burial.  What  is  it  that  they  reverence  in 
Thy  setting  ?  Is  it  feebleness  ?  No,  it  is  power — 
love's  power.  It  is  love  that  makes  Thee  passive ; 
it  is  devotion  that  makes  Thee  dumb.  Had  Thy 
love  been  less  mighty,  Thou  couldst  have  saved 
Thyself;  Thy  cross  has  come  from  the  lustre  of 
Thy  crown.  Not  the  lowliness  but  the  love,  not  the 
stooping  but  the  strength,  not  the  laying  down  of 
life  but  the  Life  that  laid  it  down,  is  the  object  of 
our  glory.  Thou  couldst  not  save  Thyself  because 
Thy  love  was  omnipotent. 


8i 


THE  THING  GOD  WILL  NOT  LET  DIE 

"  I  will  write  on  the  tables  the  words  that  were  in  the  first 
tables  which  thou  breakest." — Dedt.  x.  2. 

How  very  parsimonious  is  this  promise ! — such 
is  the  thought  which  first  suggests  itself.  "  I  will 
write  on  the  tables  the  words  that  were  in  the  first 
tables  "  ;  one  is  apt  to  cry,  Is  that  all !  The  first 
tables  had  been  broken ;  it  was  a  lost  revelation. 
We  should  have  thought  it  would  have  been  re- 
placed, not  by  a  mere  repetition,  but  by  something 
higher.  Even  if  the  same  song  be  sung  twice  by 
one  singer,  the  second  should  be  better  than  the 
first  through  increased  confidence.  But  why 
should  God  be  limited  to  one  song  !  Is  not  His 
voice  as  the  sound  of  many  waters  !  Why  should 
He  speak  the  old  things,  repeat  the  old  words, 
reveal  the  old  scenes  in  the  kaleidoscope  !  Why 
not  press  on  to  a  revelation  of  the  future !  Why 
not  open  the  windows  of  heaven  and  let  us  see 
through  !  Why  keep  us  in  the  sphere  of  prosaic 
precepts  which  belong  to  a  child's  prayer-book  ! — 
"  Love  God ! "    "  Love  man ! "    "  Love  parents  ! " 

82 


The   Thing   God   will   not   Let   Die 

"  Love  neigiibours  ! "'  **  Love  justice,  and  gentle- 
ness, and  truth,  and  purity !  "  The  first  tables 
had  the  precepts  of  earth ;  ought  not  the  second 
tables  to  have  had  the  precepts  of  heaven  ! 

My  soul,  hast  thou  considered  the  reason  why 
it  is  not  so  ?  There  can  be  no  new  morality  in 
heaven ;  other  foundation  can  no  man  lay  than 
that  which  is  laid  in  the  first  tables.  The  Ten 
Commandments  are  for  heaven  as  much  as  for 
earth ;  death  may  break  these  tables,  but  eternity 
will  reconstruct  them.  There  will  never  for  thee 
be  another  moral  law ;  go  where  thou  wilt,  thou 
shalt  find  the  old  writing.  Many  things  may  be 
new  to  thee  in  the  silent  land.  The  eye  may  have 
colours  unseen  to-day.  The  ear  may  have  sounds 
unheard  to-day.  The  hand  may  have  measure- 
ments undreamed  of  to-day.  There  may  be  new 
laws  of  motion  ;  to  think  of  a  presence  may  be  to 
fly  to  it.  There  may  be  new  laws  of  health ; 
disease  may  be  banished  by  an  act  of  will.  There 
may  be  new  laws  of  politics ;  the  faithful  servant 
may  be  the  crowned  king.  There  may  be  new 
laws  of  knowledge  ;  truth  may  come  without  train- 
ing, and  science  without  school.  But  there  will 
never  be  new  laws  of  goodness.  Wheresoever 
thou  goest,  thou  shalt  never  go  beyond  the  writing 
on  the  first  tables.    There  will  never  come  to  thee 

83  F  2 


Thoughts   for   Life's  Journey 

a  time  when  righteousness  will  be  other  than 
righteous,  puritj^  other  than  pure,  holiness  other 
than  holy.  The  heavens  may  change,  but  the 
heart  will  abide.  Gravity  may  be  suspended,  but 
grace  will  abide  Lights  may  be  extinguished, 
but  love  will  abide.  Not  empty  shalt  thou  enter 
within  the  vale ;  the  tables  prepared  for  thee  m 
the  wilderness  shall  meet  thee  in  the  house  of  the 
Lord.  Goodness  and  mercy  shall  follow  thee, 
nay,  accompany  thee — be  carried  over  in  thy 
heart  across  the  flood.  Other  things  may  drop 
from  thee  in  the  rush  of  waters.  Vanities  will 
vanish ;  pride  wiL  perish ;  selfishness  will  sink ; 
enmities  will  end.  But  God  has  set  eternity  in 
thy  heart,  and  the  things  of  the  heart  will  cross 
over.  Thy  love  will  leap  the  flood,  thy  spirit  of 
sacrifice  will  bridge  the  sea.  Thy  purity  shall  be 
transplanted;  thy  kindness  shall  be  rekindled; 
thy  justice  shall  be  rejuvenated  ;  thy  compassion 
shall  be  continued  ;  thy  tenderness  shall  be  trans- 
lated ;  thy  charity  shall  be  Elijah's  chariot 
connecting  earth  with  heaven.  The  writing  on 
thy  walls  shall  appear  amid  the  wreck  of  Babylon; 
magnify  thine  immortahty,  O  my  soul  I 


84 


THE    PHYSICAL    SYMPATHY    OF    THE 
BIBLE 

•  See  how  mine  eyes  have  been  enlightened  because  I  tasted 
a  little  of  this  honey." — i  Sam.  xiv.  29. 

These  are  the  words  of  Jonathan — one  of  the 
best  men  the  world  has  ever  seen.  They  were 
spoken  at  a  time  of  reHgious  revival — one  of  those 
seasons  when  the  claims  of  the  soul  are  apt  to  be 
set  up  in  sharp  contrast  against  the  claims  of  the 
body.  The  revival  in  this  instance  originated 
with  the  aristocracy  ;  it  came  from  the  palace. 
In  the  high  places  of  the  land  men  were  proposing 
to  cultivate  the  soil  of  the  spirit  by  letting  the 
body  starve.  They  prescribed  a  life  of  self-denial 
for  the  sake  of  self-denial.  They  suggested  that 
each  should  practise  outward  misery  with  a  view 
to  be  inwardly  better.  To  this  false  idea  of 
sacrifice  Jonathan  was  violently  opposed.  He 
showed  his  opposition  in  a  very  wise  manner.  He 
did  not  argue.  He  did  not  appeal  to  books  or 
testimonies.     He  quoted  only   one    experience — 

85 


Thoughts   for  Life's  Journey 

his  own,  "See  how  mine  eyes  have  been  en- 
Hghtened,  because  I  tasted  a  httle  of  this  honey." 
He  says  in  effect,  '*  I  am  never  so  rehgious  as 
when  my  body  is  well ;  I  never  see  God  so  clearly 
as  when  I  am  physically  comfortable."  And  I 
am  convinced  that  Jonathan  is  right — that  in  this 
matter  the  general  voice  of  the  Jew  is  right.  I  do 
not  think  that  prosperity  is  a  proof  of  the  favour 
of  God ;  but  I  do  think  that  when  a  man  is 
prosperous  he  is  more  apt  to  favour  God.  It  is 
not  purely  on  secular  grounds  that  we  advocate 
physical  philanthropy.  Job  says,  "  In  my  flesh 
shall  I  see  God."  He  speaks  truly.  He  did  not 
see  God  when  he  was  in  a  state  of  physical 
dilapidation  ;  the  words  might  be  applied  to  him, 
*'  In  his  humihation  his  judgment  was  taken 
away."  He  searched  every  spot  of  the  universe 
to  hear  a  Divine  voice  that  would  counteract  the 
voice  of  the  whirlwind.  And  yet  that  voice  was 
at  his  very  door — in  the  whirlwind  itself.  Why 
had  he  to  seek  for  it  so  long  ?  Simply  because 
the  flesh  was  weak.  The  outer  man  was  down. 
There  was  pain  in  the  joints,  feebleness  in  the 
nerves,  saplessness  in  the  marrow — a  general 
debility  all  over.  And  because  the  flesh  was 
defective  it  failed  to  convey  the  message  of  the 
spirit ;  the  telephonic  wire  was  broken,  and  the 

86 


The   Physical   Sympathy   of  the    Bible 

listener  caught  not  the  voice  that  was  speaking 
through  the  gloom. 

Lord,  I  understand  now  the  meaning  of  that 
feast  where  to  the  famished  crowd  Thou  didst  break 
the  bread.  I  used  to  think  what  an  opportunity 
was  lost  of  teaching  the  multitude.  It  seemed  a 
waste  of  time  to  spend  in  feasting  a  day  which 
might  have  been  spent  in  opening  the  doors  of 
Thy  Kingdom.  But  I  see  it  all  now.  I  see  that 
the  hunger  was  no  place  for  the  homily,  that  the 
starving  flesji  could  not  catch  the  heavenly  flame. 
I  see  that  the  sustenance  had  to  precede  the 
sermon,  that  the  viands  had  to  come  before  the 
vision,  that  the  banquet  had  to  be  served  ere  the 
beatitude  was  spoken.  I  bless  Thee,  Lord,  for 
that  humanity  to  man.  Men  would  have  said, 
**  The  things  of  the  Spirit  come  first ;  convert  the 
people  and  let  them  go."  But  Thy  heart  saw 
deeper.  It  saw  that  the  supper  must  precede  the 
Sacrament.  It  refused  to  send  the  Life  till  it  had 
sent  the  loaves.  It  would  not  mock  the  down- 
trodden with  a  tract,  the  penniless  with  a  prayer, 
the  starving  with  a  psalm ;  it  sought  the  raising 
of  the  body  before  the  salvation  of  the  soul.  Son 
of  Man,  I  marvel  at  the  depth  of  Thy  manhood. 
We  have  looked  upon  the  multitude  and  said, 
**  Bring    them    into   the    Church " ;    Thou    hast 

87 


Thoughts   for   Life's  Journey 

looked  upon  the  multitude  and  cried,  "  Bring 
them  into  the  banquet-room."  We  have  ex- 
claimed *'  Enlighten  the  eyes  of  their  under- 
standing "  ;  Tlioic  hast  said,  "  Before  their  eyes 
see  heaven,  let  their  lips  taste  the  honey  of 
earth."  Make  me  partaker  of  Thy  humanity,  O 
Lord  I 


88 


THE  ALTRUISM  OF  THE  HEAVENLY 
LIFE 

••The  Lamb  shall  lead  them." — Rev.  vii.  17, 

We  speak  of  a  leading  aim  in  life.  In  this 
world  men  have  various  leading  aims.  Some  are 
led  by  ambition,  some  by  pleasure,  some  by 
avarice,  some  by  vanity,  some  by  the  thirst  for 
knowledge.  But  the  Seer  of  Patmos  says  that  in 
the  other  world  the  leading  aim  of  life  will  be 
different  from  any  of  these ;  it  will  be  the  good  of 
humanity — what  we  call  altruism.  *'  The  Lamb 
shall  lead  them."  The  lamb  is  the  symbol  of 
sacrifice.  By  the  leading  of  the  Lamb  I  under- 
stand the  Seer  to  mean  the  motive  power  of  the 
sacrificial  spirit.  He  wishes  to  convey  the  idea 
that  in  the  future  life  of  the  soul  every  act  of  man 
will  be  prompted  by  the  desire  to  help  his  brother. 
You  will  observe,  the  difference  between  heaven 
and  earth  is  not  the  road  but  the  leading — not 
the  act  but  the  motive.  It  is  not  that  heaven  has 
other  fountains   of   water  than  those  which  are 

89 


Thoughts   for   Life's  Journey 

found  on  earth  ;  it  is  that  in  heaven  we  are  to  be 
led  to  those  fountains  by  the  Lamb — by  the 
motive  of  sacrificial  love.  It  makes  all  the 
difference  in  the  world  whether  I  am  led  to  a 
fountain  by  the  spirit  of  selfishness  or  by  the 
spirit  of  sacrifice.  Wealth  is  a  fountain.  Is  it 
pure  or  impure  ?  That  depends,  not  on  the  water, 
but  on  what  has  led  me  to  it.  What  has  been 
my  motive  for  amassing  wealth  ?  Has  it  been 
covetousness,  or  has  it  been  Christ  ?  Have  I  been 
led  by  the  lust  of  avarice,  or  have  I  been  led  by 
the  lamb  of  altruism  ?  Have  I  considered  only 
how  many  sensations  it  will  bring  to  myself — the 
rivers  of  pleasure  it  will  send  me,  the  weight  of 
influence  it  will  lend  me,  the  multitude  which, 
through  it,  will  befriend  me  ?  Or,  have  I  desired 
it  for  the  good  which  it  can  do — for  the  feeding 
of  the  hungry,  the  clothing  of  the  ragged,  the 
enlightening  of  the  ignorant,  the  healing  of  the 
sick,  the  beautifying  of  the  temple,  the  planting 
of  the  mission-field,  the  providing  of  recreation 
for  the  sons  of  daily  toil  ?  This  latter  is  the 
*'  leading  of  the  Lamb."  It  matters  not  though 
the  waters  be  earthly.  It  counts  not  though  the 
streams  be  secular.  It  lessens  not  the  value, 
though  the  gold  be  from  a  human  mine.  If  I 
gather  for  earth's  gladness,   if  I  spend  to  soothe 

90 


The   Altruism   of  the   Heavenly   Life 

earth's    sadness,    if    I    climb   to   cleanse   earth's 
badness,  I  am  led  to  the  fountain  by  the  Lamb. 

Lamb  of  God,  prepare  me  for  the  fashion  of 
Thy  world !  The  fashion  of  our  world  passeth 
away.  Here,  we  are  led  by  motives  of  self- 
interest — the  lust  of  the  flesh  and  the  lust  of  the 
eye  and  the  pride  of  being  great.  But  in  Thy 
world  another  power  shall  lead  the  fashion — Thine 
own  sacrificial  life.  Prepare  me  for  that  world, 
O  Lord !  I  should  not  like  to  be  out  of  fashion 
in  the  sweet  by-and-by.  I  should  not  like  to  be 
living  for  myself  when  all  mankind  are  living  for 
others.  Save  me  from  the  loneliness  of  a  solitary 
aim — an  aim  that  none  shall  sympathise  with  ! 
Here,  I  love  my  wealth  because  it  enhances  me. 
But  they  who  shall  be  made  rulers  over  ten  cities 
will  only  prize  their  wealth  for  a  brother's  joy  ; 
the  glory  of  their  riches  will  be  its  power  to 
minister.  I  should  not  like  to  have  the  ten  cities 
without  their  glory,  to  value  my  own  possessions 
for  the  old  earthly  reason.  There  would  be  none 
to  share  my  estimate.  Nobody  would  gratify  my 
thirst  for  admiration.  Nobody  would  pause  and 
say,  "  What  magnificent  fields  !  "  Nobody  would 
cry,  "  There  is  a  man  worth  knowing !  "  They 
would  all  be  running  after  the  new  fashion — the 
search  for  impoverishment — "  Enter  ye  into  the 

9^ 


Thoughts   for   Life's  Journey 

joy  of  your  Lord !  "  Be  that  my  joy,  O  Christ — 
not  only  then,  but  now !  Be  that  my  joy,  O 
Christ — the  gladness  of  having  something  to  give  ! 
Be  that  the  radiance  of  my  riches,  the  prize  of  my 
possessions,  the  glory  of  my  gold,  the  shining  of 
my  silver,  the  fragrance  of  my  fields,  the  greatness 
of  my  granaries,  the  majesty  of  my  many 
mansions  !  Then  shall  I  be  in  the  fashion  of  the 
future;  I  shall  be  led  to  my  fountains  by  the 
Lamb. 


92 


THE    BREADTH    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

"An  entrance  shall  be  ministered  unto  you  abundantly."^ 
I  Peter  i.  2. 

Why  an  entrance  "  abundantly  "  ?  Are  there 
any  degrees  between  getting  in  and  being  shut 
out  ?  Yes,  many.  A  man  may  have  a  foot  in 
Doth  worlds  :  he  may  be  half  in  and  half  out ;  no 
one  would  call  this  an  "abundant"  entrance.  Or 
a  man  might  get  through  the  gate  with  bruises ; 
he  might  enter  into  the  kingdom  halt  and  maim. 
Or  yet  agam,  a  man  might  be  saved  "  so  as  by 
fire  "  ;  he  might  owe  his  life  to  leaving  everything 
behind  and  beginning  the  new  world  as  a  pauper. 
All  these  have  one  thing  in  common ;  they  each 
imply  an  entrance  into  the  kingdom  with  a  muti- 
lated nature.  Now,  with  every  kingdom  but  that 
of  Christ,  this  is  actually  the  mode  of  entrance. 
There  is  no  other  instance  known  to  me  of  "an 
entrance  ministered  abundantly."  Does  the 
Indian  get  an  abundant  entrance  ?  No  ;  he  gets 
into  the  life  of  God  by  losing  his  individuality. 
Does  the  Egyptian   get   an  abundant   entrance? 

93 


Thoughts  for  Life's  Journey 

No ;  he  is  fettered  by  the  spot  where  his  body 
hes.  Does  the  Greek  get  an  abundant  entrance  ? 
No;  he  gives  up  his  waking  for  a  dream.  Does 
the  Mohammedan  get  an  abundant  entrance  ? 
No  ;  there  is  only  room  in  his  paradise  for  the 
outer  man.  Does  the  Platonist  get  an  abundant 
entrance  ?  No ;  the  inner  man  alone  can  enter 
there  ;  there  is  no  place  for  a  child's  toys.  But  in 
Christ's  kingdom  there  is  no  mutilation.  Death 
has  no  dominion  over  it.  To  reach  it  we  do  not 
even  wait  for  death  ;  its  gate  is  here.  When  I 
enter  that  gate,  I  drop  nothing ;  the  whole  man 
goes  in — body,  soul  and  spirit,  without  blemish 
and  without  blame.  That  is  what  I  understand 
by  the  words,  ''Ye  are  complete  in  Him.''  By 
no  other  gate  shall  you  enter  complete.  You  are 
not  complete  in  Plato,  complete  in  Mohammed, 
complete  in  Buddha ;  you  cannot  enter  their  gates 
with  praise,  for  you  come  in  the  poorer.  But  you 
are  complete  in  Christ.  He  is  the  one  Master 
that  mutilates  not,  the  one  Master  that  gives  an 
abundant  entrance.  He  has  a  mission  for  every 
side  of  your  nature — eye  and  ear,  mind  and  brain, 
heart  and  soul.  He  has  the  crystal  river  and  the 
new  song  and  the  unsealed  mystery  and  the  saintly 
communion  and  the  endless  activity  and  the  cease- 
less rest  and  the  kingly  power  and  the  ministrant 

94 


The   Breadth   of  Christianity 

life.     For  what  instinct  of  my  nature  has  He  not 
prepared  a  room  ! 

Lord,  I  often  speak  of  my  "  spiritual  concerns." 
I  speak  as  if  a  part  of  me  were  about  to  enter  Thy 
kingdom  and  the  other  part  were  to  be  left  behind. 
When  I  so  think,  I  forget  the  abundance  of  Thine 
entrance.  Teach  me  that  every  side  of  my  being 
is  a  spiritual  concern  !  Teach  me  that  every  gate 
may  be  the  gate  of  entrance  into  Thy  temple — the 
gate  called  Beautiful !  Let  my  wealth  be  the 
Beautiful  Gate — may  I  spend  for  the  hungry  ! 
Let  my  health  be  the  Beautiful  Gate — may  I  work 
for  the  toiling !  Let  my  manner  be  the  Beautiful 
Gate — may  I  be  gracious  to  the  lowly !  Let  my 
voice  be  the  Beautiful  Gate — may  I  sing  for  the 
weary  !  Let  my  learning  be  the  Beautiful  Gate 
— may  I  grow  humbler  as  I  climb  !  Let  my  sight 
be  the  Beautiful  Gate — in  the  glow  may  I  see  Thy 
glory !  Let  my  hearing  be  the  Beautiful  Gate — 
in  the  wind  may  I  catch  Thy  whisper  !  Let  my 
heart  be  the  Beautiful  Gate — in  the  power  of  pity 
may  I  read  Thy  purpose  !  Let  my  pain  itself  be 
the  Beautiful  Gate — in  sorrow  may  I  trace  the 
secret  of  human  brotherhood!  So  shall  heaven 
open  by  a  hundred  doors. 


95 


THE    HUMAN    HELP    TO    THE   DIVINE 

"Jesus  saith  unto  her,  Give  me  to  drink." — John  iv.  7. 

There  was  a  man  of  my  acquaintance  who 
had  once  injured  me,  and  from  whom  I  had 
therefore  been  long  estranged.  Yet  he  had  been 
Hnked  to  associations  of  my  past,  and  I  had  a 
great  wish  to  be  reconciled.  What  course  was 
open  to  me  ?  Should  I  write  a  letter  of  forgive- 
ness ?  That  would  be  a  form  of  accusation. 
Should  I  do  him  a  favour  ?  That  would  be  coals 
of  fire,  and  coals  of  fire  are  not  agreeable  to  the 
recipient.  I  decided  upon  an  opposite  method. 
Instead  of  doing  a  favour  to  him,  I  would  ask 
him  to  confer  a  favour  on  me.  I  did  ;  he  granted 
it,  and  resumed  the  friendship.  And  in  that  hour 
I  understood  for  the  first  time  the  deep  significance 
of  the  narrative  of  Samaria.  Here  is  a  woman 
whose  life  has  been  very  bad ;  her  spirit  is  in  a 
state  of  enmity  to  Christ.  Christ  wishes  to  draw 
her  heart  into  sympathy  with  His  own.  How 
shall  He  do  so  ?  He  has  all  possible  gifts  at  His 
command  ;  shall  He  load  her  with  His  benefits  ? 

96 


The   Human   Help   to  the   Divine 

No.  This  woman  is  already  in  a  state  of  spiritual 
pauperism.  She  has  lost  the  sense  of  her  own 
dignity,  and  benefits  would  perpetuate  that  loss. 
Christ  feels  that  His  favours  would  simply  make 
her  sore,  accentuate  her  alienation,  increase  her 
dislike  to  holiness.  Accordingly  He  who  knew 
what  was  in  man  says  :  "  Instead  of  helping  her, 
I  will  let  her  help  me ;  I  will  let  her  first  sense 
of  grace  be  a  sense  of  rising  dignity — a  relaxation 
of  the  humiliating  chain."  He  who  came  to 
minister  asks  this  woman  to  minister  to  Him. 
He  asks  a  drink  of  water.  It  was  a  very  small 
boon  ;  but  the  treasure  lay  in  the  asking,  not  the 
getting.  The  woman  was  uplifted  in  a  moment. 
She  would  have  crouched  if  she  had  been  offered 
something ;  but  to  be  asked  for  something — that 
was  grand !  That  a  poor  creature  like  her  should 
give  a  subscription  to  the  Church  Universal,  that 
one  of  Christ's  paupers  should  be  requested  to 
join  a  committee  for  the  building  of  His  Temple 
— this  was  exhilarating,  this  was  reconciling,  this 
made  life  again  worth  living  !  It  was  something 
to  have  answered  a  prayer  of  Jesus ! 

Lord,  I  often  thank  Thee  that  Thou  hast  heard 
my  prayers ;  do  I  ever  bless  Thee  that  I  have 
heard  Thine !  For  indeed  by  day  and  night 
Thou   prayest   to   me.     I    often    speak   of  being 

97  G 


Thoughts   for  Life's  Journey 

awakened  to  spiritual  life.  What  is  it  that  has 
awakened  me  from  sleep  ?  Is  it  my  prayers  ? 
No,  Lord,  it  is  Thine  ;  I  have  heard  a  knocking 
at  the  door,  and  my  slumber  has  been  broken. 
It  is  Thy  want  which  has  broken  my  slumber — 
not  mine.  It  is  not  I  that  have  knocked  at  the 
door  of  heaven ;  it  is  Thou  that  has  knocked  at 
the  door  of  earth.  I  am  the  child  of  Thy  prayers 
— not  my  own.  Samaritan  as  I  am,  sinner  as  I 
am,  Thou  hast  asked  drink  of  me.  I  am  glad 
that  Thou  hast  asked  drink  of  me.  I  am  glad 
that  Thou  hast  allowed  me  to  begin  by  giving, 
not  receiving.  To  a  heart  crushed  with  sin,  to  a 
heart  that  has  done  nothing  for  Thee,  Thy 
benefits  are  a  load  ;  they  bring  more  weight  than 
wing.  But  to  benefit  Thee — that  is  an  w^doading 
of  my  soul.  To  be  waited  on  by  Thee  is  the  life 
of  the  invalid ;  but  to  wait  on  Thee  is  to  renew 
my  strength,  to  mount  up  on  wings  as  eagles. 
There  is  no  fragrance  like  that  of  my  alabaster 
box — the  box  I  break  for  Thee.  There  is  no 
radiance  like  that  of  Bethlehem's  gold — the  gold 
I  bring  to  Thee.  There  is  no  freshness  like  that 
of  Samaria's  water— the  water  I  pour  for  Thee. 
I  thank  Thee,  O  Lord,  that  Thou  hast  asked 
something  which  is  mine. 


98 


THE    LAND    WITH    A    GOLDEN 
TWILIGHT 

•*  At  evening  time  there  shall  be  light." — Zech.  xiv.  7, 

This  is  a  promise  made  to  the  nation  ;  and  as 
such  it  is  unique  in  history.  I  do  not  mean  that 
no  nation  but  the  Jew  has  ever  predicted  the  glory 
of  its  advanced  years.  I  knov^  of  none  that  has 
not ;  every  people  glorifies  its  own  future.  But  the 
peculiarity  of  this  promise  is,  not  that  it  glorifies 
the  future,  but  that  it  glorifies  the  evening.  The 
evening  of  a  nation  is  its  decline — the  time  when 
it  has  lost  its  political  influence  and  its  military 
prestige.  To  say  that  a  nation  shall  have  light  at 
evening  time  is  to  say  that  it  will  be  a  power  in  its 
decrepit  days,  that  in  the  period  of  its  old  age  it 
will  exercise  the  influence  of  the  morning.  That 
is  the  promise  given  to  Judah,  and  it  is  unique. 
But  there  is  something  besides  which  is  unique  and 
whose  uniqueness  is  more  remarkable.  This 
promise  has  been  fulfilled.  There  may  be  dis- 
putes about  other  prophecies.  There  may  be 
controversies  about  the    interpretation  of    other 

99  G  2 


Thoughts   for  Life's  Journey 

predictions.     There  may  be  difference  of  opinion  as 
to  whether  a  presaged  glory  refers  to  a  Hezekiah 
or  a  Christ.     But  this  is  a  prophecy  which  is  being 
fulfilled  before  our  eyes.     We  see  one  among  the 
peoples  of  the  world  whose  light  has  come  only  at 
evening  time — in  the  hour  of  its  decay.     Judah 
has  indeed  reached  her  evening  shadows.      She 
has  hung  her  harp  upon  the  willows.    She  has  lost 
her  local  habitation.     She  has  been  driven  from 
her  rites  of  worship.     She  has  been  expelled  from 
her  temple.     She  has  been  robbed  of  her  prophet, 
her  priest  and  her  king.     She  has  been  sent  to 
sojourn  in  every  land,  and  in  none  has  she  found 
a  home.     Yet,  in  her  darkness  she  is  giving  light 
to  the  world.     Never  did  she  give  such  light  as 
now.     Not  when  David  sat  upon  her  throne,  not 
when  Solomon  swayed  her  sceptre,  not  when  seer 
and  psalmist  sang  her  glories,  did  she  give  such 
light  as  now.      From  the  ruins  of  her  battered 
tower  she  rules  all  nations.     From  a  ledge  of  her 
broken  wall  she  gives  law  to  the  world.     From  the 
places  of  her  exile  she  dictates  to  modern  civilisa- 
tion.     From    the     scene    of   her   blindness    she 
illuminates  the  kingdoms  by  a  torch  she  cannot 
see.     At  her  evening  time  there  has  been  light. 

Lord,  these  ancient  people  of  Thine  have  seen 
their   evening,    but    not   their   light.      They   are 
loo 


The   Land   with   a   Golden   Twilight 

dreaming  still  of  a  future  glory — of  a  universal 
empire,  of  a  kingdom  which  shall  enfold  all  man- 
kind. It  never  strikes  them  that  the  kingdom  has 
come  already.  They  deem  themselves  to  be  in 
bondage  to  the  Gentiles ;  they  wot  not  that  the 
Gentiles  are  even  now  their  subjects.  They  say, 
"  We  shall  one  day  give  a  King  to  the  world  ;  '* 
and  lo,  their  King  is  already  here — seated  on  His 
Throne,  ruling  from  sea  to  sea !  Show  them,  O 
Lord,  their  "  light  at  evening  time  "  !  Reveal  to 
them  the  radiance  of  their  ruins,  the  empire  of 
their  evening  sky  !  Teach  them  that  the  majesty 
of  the  Gentiles  is  the  majesty  of  their  Messiah ! 
Tell  them  that  our  gardens  are  glorified  by 
their  flowers,  our  houses  heated  by  their 
fires,  our  fields  fructified  by  their  corn  !  Tell 
them  that  we  are  living  by  their  labour,  fed  by 
their  fulness,  braced  by  their  breezes,  enriched 
by  their  rivers,  freshened  by  their  fountains, 
strengthened  by  their  struggles,  inspired  by  the 
spirit  of  their  life !  Tell  them  that  their  King 
has  come,  that  their  fancy  is  fulfilled,  that  their 
empire  is  established,  that  their  conquest  is  com- 
plete, that  their  mission  is  manifested,  that  their 
progress  is  perfected,  that  their  world  is  won  !  Let 
them  see  their  glory  in  the  evening  light ! 


TCI 


THE    BROAD    WAY    OF    GOD 

"Thine  eyes  shall  behold  a  far-stretching  land." — Isa.  xxxiii. 
17  (R.V.). 

The  promise  contained  in  these  words  is  a 
promise  that  the  later  religious  life  shall  have 
an  expanded  view.  This  is  not  our  common 
opinion  of  the  religious  life.  The  popular  notion 
is  that  the  outlook  should  be  widest  at  the 
beginning,  and  should  contract  with  advancing 
years.  The  vision  of  religious  breadth  ii  sup- 
posed to  belong  to  the  young.  But  it  is  a  great 
mistake.  Youth  is  the  time  for  emphasizing 
differences.  It  admits  of  no  compromise.  What- 
ever cause  it  takes  up,  it  takes  up  sharply  and 
antithetically.  When  it  takes  up  Christ  it  puts 
Him  on  an  island — with  a  sea  between  Him  and 
all  things.  It  delights  to  think  how  narrow  its 
land  is,  how  separate  from  all  other  lands.  It 
finds  its  glory  in  the  dividing-line  between  Christ 
and  the  world.  It  says  :  *'  The  dance  is  incom- 
patible with  devotion,  the  evening  party  incon- 
gruous with  earnest  piety."  It  bids  the  seeker 
102 


The   Broad   Way   of  God 

of  Canaan  abstain  from  the  feast  of  Cana,  the 
worshipper  at  Bethlehem  recoil  from  the  supper 
at  Bethany;  when  it  hears  music  in  the  Father's 
house  it  will  not  go  in.  But  the  advanced 
Christian  feels  very  differently.  He  says,  with 
the  Seer  of  Patmos,  "  There  shall  be  no  more 
sea."  The  waters  that  encompass  the  island  are 
dried  up,  and  he  beholds  everywhere  a  far-stretch- 
ing land.  The  Christian  road  has  become  an  all- 
embracing  road  ;  it  claims  for  Christ  the  spots  it 
once  repudiated.  It  plants  the  cross  in  the  middle 
of  the  highway.  We  no  longer  say,  **  Six  days  for 
the  world  and  one  for  God."  The  Sabbath  has 
ceased  to  be  an  island.  It  has  become  connected 
with  the  mainland  ;  it  has  given  its  character  to 
the  mainland.  Instead  of  one  day  of  rest,  we 
would  have  rest  in  all  the  days.  We  would  work 
by  the  Sabbath  rest — the  spirit  of  peace  within. 
Between  the  Church  and  the  market-place  there 
is  no  more  sea.  There  is  an  altar  possible  at  the 
receipt  of  custom,  an  opportunity  for  sacrifice  at 
the  exchange,  a  chance  for  self-surrender  at  the 
counting-house,  a  sphere  for  Divine  service  in  the 
haunts  of  commerce.  In  the  completed  life  of 
Christ  Heaven  and  earth  are  one  far-stretching 
land. 

Lord,  hasten  that  happ}  time  when  between  my 
103 


Thoughts  for   Life's  Journey 

duties  on  Sunday  and  my  duties  on  Monday  there 
shall  be  no  more  sea !  Give  me  an  expanded  view 
of  what  it  is  to  be  religious  !  Show  me  how  far- 
stretching  it  is,  how  many  things  are  included  in 
it !  Teach  me  that  the  road  to  Emmaus  is  broad 
enough  to  hold  many  travellers!  The  fu.ther  I 
journey  on  that  road,  let  me  learn  more  how  vast 
it  is !  Make  my  afternoon  more  charitable  than 
my  morning !  Let  me  see  how  those  can  stand 
on  Thy  road  that  dared  not  stand  on  mine  !  Let 
me  see  into  what  unlikely  quarter  stretches  Thy 
street  of  gold !  Let  me  see  there  the  leper  that  I 
loathed,  the  demoniac  that  I  despised,  the  sceptic 
that  I  scorned,  the  fallen  that  I  flouted !  Let  me 
see  the  child  in  spirituality  whom  I  deemed  unfit 
for  my  arena  taken  into  Thine  arms,  the  man  who 
would  not  take  Thy  name  accepted  for  Thy  nature, 
the  woman  who  had  no  creed  chosen  for  a  cry  ! 
The  midday  shall  be  more  glorious  than  the  morn- 
ing, if  only  it  reveals  how  far-stretching  is  Thy 
land. 


104 


AN    IDEAL    YOUNG    MAN 

"I  have  seen  a  son  of  Jesse  the  Beth.lehemite,  that  is  cunning 
in  playing,  and  a  mighty  valiant  man,  and  a  man  of  war,  and 
prudent  in  matters,  and  a  comely  person,  and  the  Lord  is  with 
him." — I  Sam.  xvi.  i8. 

What  a  magnificent  assemblage  of  qualities  ! 
What  element  is  omitted  that  can  secure  success  ! 
Here  is  personal  attractiveness,  "a  comely  per- 
son." Here  is  business-like  sagacity,  ''prudent 
in  matters."  Here  is  athletic  vigour,  "  a  valiant 
man  of  war."  Here  is  social  accomplishment, 
**  cunning  in  playing."  Here,  finally,  is  the  spirit 
of  religion,  "  the  Lord  is  with  him."  The  young 
man  thus  described  is  David.  He  is  dowered 
from  every  direction — by  nature,  by  art,  by 
experience,  by  heaven.  And  yet,  after  all,  the 
remarkable  thing  is  not  the  number,  nor  even  the 
variety  of  these  qualities.  What  strikes  me  most 
is  their  seeming  oppositeness.  They  are  not  the 
qualities  which  we  should  expect  to  find  united. 
Personal  attractiveness  often  interferes  with 
prudence ;  we  say,  in  common  speech,  that  such 
a  man  gets  his  head  turned.  Devotion  to  art 
105 


Thoughts   for  Life's  Journey 

naturally  detracts  from  muscular  vigour  ;  the  man 
of  the  study  is  not  apt  to  be  the  man  of  war. 
Finally,  such  a  blaze  of  human  glory  often  obscures 
for  a  time  the  other  world  and  holds  a  veil  over 
the  face  of  God.  Is  there  anything  that  can  unite 
these  qualities,  that  can  make  them  act  in  har- 
mony ?  Yes,  there  is  one  thing  which  can  ;  it  is 
love.  Love  can  join  all  these  varieties.  Love 
can  make  comely ;  it  can  kindle  even  a  plain  face 
into  glory.  Love  can  make  strong ;  it  can  put 
valour  in  the  heart  and  power  in  the  sinew. 
Love  can  make  prudent ;  the  wisdom  of  the 
serpent  may  lie  in  the  harmlessness  of  the  dove. 
Love  can  make  artistic ;  it  is  itself  the  very  essence 
of  beauty,  the  very  soul  of  loveliness.  And  love 
can  make  religious ;  its  thirst  for  the  beautiful  is 
not  gratified  below  ;  its  artistic  eye  seeks  a  better 
country.     In  love  all  fulness  dwells. 

Strong  Son  of  God,  Immortal  Love,  descend  in 
Thy  fulness  upon  the  spirit  of  youth  !  Bring  into 
the  heart  of  our  young  men  that  union  of  qualities 
which,  in  Thine  absence,  are  opposed !  Give 
them  the  valour  of  the  soldier — the  strength  that 
will  not  stoop  to  wrong  !  Give  them  the 
suavity  of  the  courtier — the  gentleness  of  manner 
which  is  ever  comely !  Give  them  a  sense  of 
beauty — a  taste  for  all  that  is  fair  in  literature  and 
To6 


An   Ideal   Young   Man 

art,  that  life  may  to  them  reveal  its  romantic  joy ! 
Give  them  that  with  which  a  romantic  joy  is  often 
incompatible — the  spirit  of  prudence,  a  power  of 
far-seeing,  a  judgment  calm  and  clear  !  Give  them, 
above  all,  a  pious  soul — a  reverence  for  what  is 
righteous,  a  hope  for  what  is  holy,  a  trust  in  what 
is  true  !  Forbid  that  they  should  associate  Thy 
religion  with  unmanliness  !  Forbid  that  they 
should  say,  "  It  is  unheroic  to  ask  help  from 
heaven "  !  Teach  them  that  Thy  help  makes 
heroes !  Teach  them  that  the  leader  of  men  is 
the  leaner  on  Thee  !  Teach  them  that  there  is 
none  so  brave  as  he  who  lies  on  Thy  breast,  none 
so  wise  as  he  who  bends  to  Thy  will,  none  so 
courteous  as  he  who  has  sunk  self  at  Thy  cross ! 
Light  them  by  the  love  of  Thee  !  Thy  love  alone 
gives  an  all-round  manhood.  It  has  the  courage 
for  Calvary,  the  wisdom  for  temptation's  wilder- 
ness, the  manner  for  the  marriage  feast,  the 
fervour  for  the  fields  of  beauty.  It  is  grave 
without  gloom,  free  without  frivolity,  prudent 
without  prudishness,  pious  without  pretension, 
calm  without  coldness,  winsome  without  weakness, 
trusty  without  truculence,  winged  with  radiance 
and  yet  weighted  with  responsibility.  Be  ours 
Thy  spirit  of  manhood,  O  Lord  ! 


107 


THE    WELLS    AND    THE    POOLS 

"  Who  passing  through  the  valley  of  Baca  make  it  a  well ; 
the  rain  also  filleth  the  pools."— Psa.  lxxxiv.  6. 

When  a  man  is  in  the  valley  of  tribulation  he 
may  have  consolation  from  two  sources.  He  may 
get  it  by  activity,  or  he  may  get  it  by  lying  passive. 
He  may  get  a  supply  of  water  from  a  well  which 
his  own  hands  have  digged,  or  he  may  get  that 
supply  from  the  pools  which  the  rain  has  filled. 
In  the  case  of  digging  the  well  I  work  for  my 
consolation,  in  the  filling  of  the  pool  by  the  rain 
my  consolation  works  for  me;  I  have  power  to  dig  a 
well,  but  the  filling  of  the  pool  with  rain  \s  Nature's 
deed — God's  deed.  Have  you  not  experience  of 
these  two  consolations  ?  Sometimes  you  get  water 
by  your  own  digging — comfort  by  your  own  effort ; 
when  a  treasure  is  taken  away,  you  think  of  the 
gold  still  left  to  you.  But  there  are  other  times 
in  which  your  comfort  comes,  not  from  the  wells  of 
earth,  but  from  the  rains  of  heaven.  And  these,  I 
think,  are  the  most  frequent  moments.  I  am  not  good 
at  digging  wells  when  I  am  in  the  valley  of  Baca ; 
1 08 


The   Wells   and   the   Pools 

the  heavy  heart  makes  a  weak  hand.  In  my 
prosperous  hours  I  use  the  wells  more  than  the 
pools.  But  in  my  hour  of  adversity  I  am  chiefly 
dependent  on  the  pools.  My  digging  power  is 
small ;  I  find  it  hard  to  brace  myself  by  the 
remembrance  of  remaining  mercies.  If  I  had  no 
resource  but  the  digging  of  wells,  I  think  I  should 
die ;  the  explanation  of  my  continued  life  is  the 
fact  that  "  the  rain,  also,  filleth  the  pools." 

I  bless  Thee,  O  Lord,  for  these  waters  sent 
from  heaven  !  I  bless  Thee  for  the  strength  that 
comes  to  me  without  my  effort !  Often  has  it 
come  to  me  just  when  I  had  given  up  the  digging — 
just  when  I  had  thrown  away  the  spade  in  despair. 
When  all  my  human  doors  have  closed,  an 
invisible  door  has  opened,  and  there  has  come  to 
me  an  incomprehensible  strength,  an  unaccountable 
calm,  an  inexplicable  peace.  The  water  denied  to 
the  wells  has  appeared  in  the  pools,  and  I  am 
refreshed  from  above.  In  vain  I  ask  the  earth  for 
the  cause  of  my  refreshment.  There  is  nothing 
at  my  feet  to  explain  it.  The  valley  of  Baca  is  a 
valley  still.  The  ground  is  dusty  and  dry ;  my 
hands  are  too  feeble  to  dig  a  well  below.  But 
when  I  look  up  it  is  all  accounted  for ;  Thy  rain 
filleth  the  pools.  Elijah  was  fed  by  ravens,  but 
that  was  a  small  miracle !  /  have  been  fed  by 
log 


Thoughts   for   Life's  Journey 

jjiee — directly,  without  a  medium  !  The  wells 
have  been  superseded  by  the  pools.  What  the  earth 
could  not  send  up,  Thy  heaven  has  poured  down. 
What  the  ground  could  not  give,  Thy  grace  has 
yielded.  What  human  effort  could  not  buy,  Thy 
Divine  love  has  granted  free.  My  strength  in 
the  lowly  valley  has  come  from  Thine  upper  air. 
I  have  not  been  left  to  the  weariness  of  waiting 
for  the  well ;  Thy  rain  has  also  filled  my  pools! 


no 


THE    DANGER    OF   TRIFLING    THINGS 

"  Turn  ye  not  aside,  for  then  should  ye  go  after  vain  things.'* 
— I  Sam.  XII.  21. 

There  is  a  strange  sense  of  anti-climax  in 
these  words.  Samuel  tells  the  people  not  to  turn 
aside  from  God.  This  advice  is  very  natural. 
But  the  reason  on  which  he  bases  it  is  rather 
startling.  He  says  that  if  men  deviate  from  God 
they  will  '*  go  after  vain  things."  It  seems  a  most 
lame  and  impotent  conclusion.  Why  does  he  fear 
emptiness  so  much  ?  The  departure  from  God  is 
ever  to  be  deplored ;  but  surely  it  is  not  to  be 
most  deplored  when  it  makes  men  shallow, 
frivolous,  vacant-minded !  Are  not  these  simple 
things,  harmless  things,  innocent  things — things 
to  which  we  attribute  the  word  "  silly  "  rather  than 
**  sinful "  ?  Yet  I  think  the  prophet  is  right.  Who 
is  the  man  furthest  away  from  God — in  other 
words,  who  is  the  man  whom  it  would  take 
longest  to  bring  home  ?  Is  it  he  who  has  been 
led  astray  by  passion  ?  Is  it  he  who  has  fallen 
into  enmity  ?  Is  it  he  who  has  outraged  his 
III 


Thoughts   for   Life's  Journey 

conscience  by  a  deed  of  evil  ?  Not  so  ;  all  these 
have  come  back  within  a  few  days.  Magdalene 
has  turned  her  own  passion  into  the  Lord's 
Passion ;  Saul  has  changed  his  fire  of  enmity 
into  a  fire  of  love ;  Peter  has  made  his  conscious 
guilt  his  consciousness  of  glory — all  these  have 
come  home.  But  the  great  difficulty  is  to  bring 
back  the  unthoughtful — the  men  taken  up  with 
the  breadth  of  their  phylacteries  and  the  enlarging 
of  their  garments.  Simon  the  Pharisee  is  farther 
off  than  Magdalene,  for  he  is  more  vacant.  What 
is  the  extreme  opposite  of  the  calm  sea  ?  Is  it 
the  stormy  sea  ?  No  ;  any  moment  the  storm  may 
become  a  calm.  The  extreme  opposite  of  the 
calm  sea  is  the  stagnant  pool.  Why  so  ?  Because 
it  lacks  something  which  is  possessed  both  by  the 
sea  in  its  calm  and  the  sea  in  its  roughness — life. 
There  is  no  deterrent  from  God  like  the  worship 
of  trifles,  because  that  is  an  idolatry  unaccom- 
panied by  a  sense  of  sin.  Trifles  do  not  trouble 
the  conscience ;  and,  where  the  pool  of  conscience 
is  untroubled,  Bethesda  has  no  healing  spring. 

Lord,  save  me  from  lifting  up  my  soul  unto 
vanity !  There  is  a  pride  which  brings  its  own 
fall.  When  I  aim  at  impossible  things  I  am 
taught  my  presumption  by  stern  experience.  But 
when  I  aim  at  things  beneath  me,  I  never  learn 

112 


The   Danger   of  Trifling  Things 

my  need ;  my  pride  gets  no  fall.  The  lowness  of 
my  aim  lulls  me  into  a  false  rest.  I  lose  my 
longings  ;  I  crush  my  cravings  ;  I  drop  my  desire 
for  higher  things.  I  mistake  my  passiveness  for 
peace,  my  deadness  for  decorum,  my  lethargy  for 
life.  If  I  aspired  to  a  Tower  of  Babel,  my  failure 
would  confound  me  and  perhaps  redeem  me  ;  but 
I  am  satisfied  with  a  house  upon  the  sand,  and 
my  soul  is  unconvicted  of  sin.  When  Thou 
passest  through  my  Galilee,  I  do  not  come  to 
Thee.  Greater  sinners  come — Zacchgeus  comes, 
Mary  comes — but  not  I.  Why  is  this,  O  Lord? 
It  is  because  my  infinite  selfishness  lies  in  so 
small  a  vessel.  I  have  done  no  harm  as  Zacchaeus 
has,  as  Mary  has ;  it  seems  a  small  thing  that  I 
have  done  no  good.  I  have  placed  my  treasure  in 
a  trifle,  and  the  trifle  veils  Thee  from  me.  Rend 
that  veil,  O  Lord  1  Show  me  the  virulence  of  the 
poison  in  the  tiny  box  !  Break  the  box  !  Trample 
on  the  trifles  !  Cause  the  vain  things  to  evaporate! 
Banish  the  baubles  that  keep  me  from  school ! 
Take  away  the  toys  thai  divert  me  from  thought ! 
Put  aside  the  playthings  that  tempt  me  from 
reflection  !     Teach  me  to  know  my  need  of  Thee  ! 


"3 


THE    RELIGIOUS    STAGE    BELOW 
PRAYER 

••  I  have  looked  upon  My  people,  because  their  cry  is  come 
unto  Me."— I  Sam.  ix.  i6. 

We  often  speak  of   God  as  the  hearer  and 

answerer  of  prayer.     The  Bible  goes  much  further 

than  that ;   it  says  He  is  the  hearer  and  answerer 

of  the  cry.    You  will  distinguish  between  a  prayer 

and  a  cry;  they  are  not  the  same  thing.    A  prayer 

takes  definite  aim ;   a  cry  is  a  random  shot.     A 

prayer  is  the  expression  of  a  particular  need;   a 

cry  may  be  the  voice  of  a  want  unknown  to  him 

who  utters  it.     A  prayer  is  addressed  direct  to  the 

ear  of  the  Almighty  ;   a  cry  may  be  addressed  to 

no  one,  but  may  simply  cleave  the  air.    That  God 

should   answer   my   prayer   is   a   very   endearing 

thought ;   but  it  is  more  endearing  still  that  He 

should  answer  my  cry.    There  is  a  certain  amount 

of  Jwmage  in  a  prayer;  there  may  be  none  in  a  cry. 

A  cry  may  be  purely  secular.     The  cry  spoken  of 

in  the  passage  was  so.     It  was  wrung  out  by  a 

worldly  sorrow.    It  was  not  so  much  prompted  by 

longing  for  the  future  as  by  dissatisfaction  with 

114 


The   Religious   Stage   below   Prayer 

the  present ;  the  people  groaned  because  they  were 
weary  of  the  Philistines.  Yet  God  says,  "Their 
cry  is  come  unto  Me."  A  very  striking  expression ! 
I  understand  it  to  mean  that  the  cry  reached  Him 
though  it  was  not  sent  to  Him ;  the  value  of  a 
prayer  was  imputed  to  an  expression  of  mere 
worldly  want — to  something  which  had  "  no 
language  but  a  cry."  And  what  was  true  of 
ancient  Israel  is  true  of  modern  England.  For 
every  single  prayer  that  God  hears  He  hears  a 
hundred  cries.  Many  who  utter  them  would  be 
called  men  and  women  of  the  world ;  yet  God 
accepts  their  cry  as  a  protest  against  the  world. 
It  is  something  to  be  weary  of  the  Philistines  !  It 
is  something  to  be  unfilled  with  the  swine-husks  ! 
It  is  something  to  feel  that,  when  life  has  loaded 
me  with  luxuries,  there  is  a  great  void  left  behind ! 
That  void  is  to  my  Father  equal  to  a  voice  of 
prayer.  The  message  has  no  address,  but  it  comes 
to  Him. 

Lord,  there  was  a  time  when  men  said  of  me, 
*'  He  is  not  a  man  of  prayer."  They  said,  "  He 
never  lifts  his  voice  to  the  Father  of  spirits ;  he  is 
steeped  in  the  cares  of  the  world."  They  were 
wrong.  They  forgot  that  the  cares  of  the  world 
are  cries,  and  that  cries  reach  Thee  as  well  as 
prayers.  If  I  were  at  home  in  the  world,  I  should 
115  H  2 


Thoughts   for   Life's  Journey 

have  no  care  in  the  midst  of  its  pleasures  ;  they 
would  fill  me.  But  it  is  just  in  the  midst  of  its 
pleasures  that  I  have  the  deepest  want.  I  never 
long  so  much  for  the  wings  of  a  dove  as  at  the  top 
of  the  earthly  hill.  It  is  then  that  my  cry  comes. 
Doubtless  it  is  no  prayer.  It  is  not  aspiration ;  it 
is  only  disappointed  retrospect.  But  the  dis- 
appointment makes  it  music  in  Thine  ear.  It  tells 
Thee  that  I  am  too  big  for  my  toys.  Thou  hearest 
as  yet  no  request;  I  ask  Thee  for  nothing;  I  have 
not  even  called  on  Thee  by  name.  But  I  have 
called  on  Thee  by  need.  We  speak  of  Thee  as  the 
hearer;  Thou  art  more — Thou  art  the  overhearer. 
Thou  understandest  my  thought  afar  off — afar  off 
even  from  myself.  Ere  I  can  speak  a  word  Thou 
hast  overheard  my  cry.  Thou  hast  not  waited  for 
my  asking,  for  my  power  to  ask.  Thou  hast  read 
in  my  groan  more  than  I  could  say.  Thou  hast 
come,  not  to  my  voice,  but  to  my  void.  Before  I 
have  learned  to  bless  Thee,  Thou  hast  seen  my 
blank  without  Thee.  Thou  hast  rated  me  above 
my  present  worth.  Thou  hast  interpreted  my  cry 
as  a  creed,  my  sigh  as  a  sympathy,  my  want  as  a 
wish,  my  poverty  as  a  prayer,  my  discontent  as  a 
devotion,  my  lament  as  an  accent  of  love.  I  praise 
Thee,  O  Lord,  that  Thou  hast  overheard  the 
complainings  which  were  not  sent  to  Thee. 
ii6 


THE    DIVINE    IDEAL    OF    DOMINION 

"  The  Lord's  portion  is  His  people;  Jacob  is  the  lot  of  His 
inheritance."— Deut.  xxxii.  9. 

There  is  no  possession  of  which  a  high  nature 
feels  so  proud  as  the  possession  of  a  human  eouL 
An  inferior  nature  values  above  all  things  the 
ownership  of  houses  and  lands.  But  to  a  spiritua 
mind  the  greatest  inheritance  in  the  world  is  the 
mastery  over  another's  spirit — specially  over 
another's  heart.  We  often  use  the  expression, 
**  My  own  one,  my  own  dearest."  At  these 
moments  we  feel  the  sense  of  possession  to  be  a 
peculiar  luxury.  We  would  not  resign  this  par- 
ticular kind  of  mastery  for  all  the  wealth  of  India 
and  all  the  land  of  Canada.  The  sense  of  posses- 
sion which  says  to  a  human  soul,  "  My  own  !  "  is 
the  climax  of  conscious  power.  Now,  that  is 
what  I  take  the  passage  before  us  to  mean.  "  The 
Lord's  portion  is  His  people''' — not  the  mastery 
over  stars  and  systems,  not  the  control  of  storms 
and  hurricanes,  not  the  command  of  forces  and 
thunderbolts,  but  the  empire  over  human  hearts ; 
117 


Thoughts   for   Life's  Journey 

this  is  the  triumph  of  heaven,  this  is  the  power  of 
God.  Nor  has  the  passage  yet  exhausted  itself. 
If  what  God  wants  to  possess  is  a  human  soul, 
what  He  wants  most  is  a  soul  of  the  type  of  Jacob, 
**  Jacob  is  the  lot  of  His  inheritance."  Is  not  that 
a  strange  desire  1  Why  such  a  type  as  Jacob  ! 
Why  not  Abraham  or  Isaac  or  Joseph  !  These 
were  steadfast,  unwavering  men,  never  halting  in 
the  march,  never  weary  on  the  way.  But  Jacob 
was  a  lame  foot,  ever  stopping,  ever  sliding.  Was 
he  not  a  poor  creature  at  the  best — one  of  the 
waifs  and  strays  that  sleep  on  Bethel  stairs,  one  of 
the  flickering  lights  that  struggle  with  the  wind  ? 
Yes,  and  therefore  he  was  worth  conquering, 
worth  possessing.  Have  you  not  read,  "  There  is 
more  joy  in  heaven  over  one  sinner  that  repenteth 
than  over  ninety  and  nine  which  went  not  astray  "  ? 
God's  most  precious  inheritance  is  the  sheep  that 
wandered.  To  hold  a  fugitive  heart,  to  master  a 
wayward  mind,  to  fix  a  changing  fancy,  to  dom- 
inate a  contrary  desire,  to  captivate  an  escaping 
conscience,  to  win  a  stubborn  will,  to  prostrate  an 
ignoble  passion,  to  soften  a  prodigal  son — that  is 
the  inheritance  in  Jacob,  that  is  the  joy  of  the 
Lord  ! 

Lord,  let  me   gather   for    Thee   these  sons  of 
Jacob !     Let  me  gather  for  Thee  these  unlikely 
ii8 


The   Divine    Ideal   of  Dominion 

lives  which  seem  impossible  to  mould !  Let  me 
gather  them  from  the  houseless  and  the  homeless  ! 
Let  me  pick  them  up  from  life's  Bethel  stairs,  from 
the  pillars  of  stone  to  which  sin  has  consigned 
them  !  Let  me  raise  them  from  the  bed  of  clay 
where  an  elder  brother's  wrath  has  laid  them! 
Let  me  inspire  their  night  with  a  dream — a  dream 
of  coming  glory  !  Let  me  show  them  that  a 
ladder  may  rise  from  the  very  stones  of  their 
humiliation  !  Let  me  show  them  that  the 
pillows  on  which  they  lie  may  to-morrow  be  the 
steps  of  Thine  altar!  Let  me  tell  them  that, 
though  they  know  not  Thy  name,  Thou  art 
wrestling  with  them  every  day  !  Let  me  teach 
them  that  Thy  blessing  precedes  the  daybreak, 
that  Thy  love  is  earlier  than  their  light,  that  the 
striving  of  Thy  Spirit  waits  not  for  their  morning 
sunshine  !  Let  me  bring  to  them  the  tidings  that 
Thou  hast  sought  them  before  the  dawn,  greeted 
them  ere  the  sunbeam  smiled,  struggled  for  them 
without  a  streak  of  day  !  So  shall  they  learn  that 
Thou  art  the  God  of  Jacob. 


119 


THE    SECRET    OF    ISRAEL'S 
GREATNESS 

"Behold,  I  have  taught  you  statutes  and  judgments;  keep 
therefore  and  do  them  ;  for  this  is  your  wisdom  and  your 
understanding  in  the  sight  of  the  nations." — Deut.  iv.  5,  6. 

I  TAKE  the  idea  to  be  that  the  greatness  of  the 
people  of  Israel  was  a  moral  greatness  :  *'  This  is 
your  wisdom  in  the  sight  of  the  nations."  God 
has  given  to  each  nation  a  different  kind  of 
wisdom.  He  has  given  to  China  the  spirit  of 
order,  to  India  the  spirit  of  devotion,  to  Persia 
the  spirit  of  religious  struggle,  to  Egypt  the  spirit 
of  reverence,  to  Greece  the  spirit  of  beauty,  to 
Rome  the  spirit  of  empire.  But  Israel's  one  lamp 
is  the  love  of  righteousness.  I  do  not  think  she 
has  any  love  so  strong  as  that.  She  has  not 
arranged  her  household  like  China ;  her  twelve 
tribes  are  scattered  to  the  winds.  She  has  no 
mystic  moments  like  India ;  she  seeks  the  things 
of  common  day.  She  has  no  religious  doubts  like 
Persia ;  her  faith  is  a  child's  faith.  She  has  no 
sense  of  eternity  like  Egypt ;  enough  for  her  is 
120 


The   Secret   of  Israel's   Greatness 

the  earthly  promised  land.  She  has  no  secular 
arts  like  Greece ;  she  keeps  her  poetry  and  her 
music  for  the  ear  of  God  alone.  She  has  no  dream 
of  personal  conquest  like  Rome ;  if  she  seeks  an 
empire,  it  is  for  Messiah.  But,  in  one  thing  she 
is  alone  among  the  nations — her  cry  for  earthly 
goodness.  It  is  earthly  goodness.  She  is  not 
anxious  how  she  will  appear  before  the  great  white 
throne;  she  never  speaks  of  that;  she  leaves 
that  to  Egypt.  For  her  the  question  is.  How 
shall  I  equip  myself  below  ? — shall  I  honour  my 
father  ?  shall  I  help  my  brother  ?  shall  I  serve 
my  neighbour  ?  shall  I  comfort  my  friend  ? 
shall  I  be  just  in  the  exchange  ?  shall  I  be 
fair  in  the  market-place  ?  shall  I  be  true  in 
the  witness-box  ?  shall  I  be  pure  at  the  family 
altar  ?  These  are  homely  questions,  yea,  they 
are  problems  of  the  home ;  but  they  are  hers 
— hers  alone,  hers  distinctly,  hers  by  nature 
and  birthright ;  this  is  her  wisdom  among  the 
nations. 

I  thank  Thee,  O  Lord,  that  amid  the  notes  of 
the  nations  Thou  hast  prepared  a  place  for 
"  Home,  sweet  home."  I  thank  Thee  that  in  the 
great  orchestra  which  sings  Thy  manifold  beauty 
there  is  a  place  for  the  minor  chords — the  chords 
that  vibrate  to  the  dusty  day.     India  has  soared 

121 


Thoughts   for   Life's   Journey 

for  Thee,  Persia  has  fought  for  Thee,  Egypt  has 
dreamed  for  Thee,  Greece  has  dressed  for  Thee  ; 
but  is  there  to  be  none  to  walk  for  Thee  ?  Among 
all  the  voices  of  the  nations,  is  there  to  be  none 
that  shall  say,  "  Lo,  I  come,  I  delight  to  do  Thy 
will "  ?  I  thank  Thee  that  there  is  one.  I  bless 
Thee  that  amid  the  sweet  singers  of  this  world 
there  is  one  that  sings  in  the  street — sings  the 
common  song  of  duty.  I  praise  Thee  that  among 
the  birds  of  morning  there  is  one  which  carols  on 
the  ground — warbles  where  men  walk,  trills  where 
men  toil,  sings  where  men  struggle  with  the  hour. 
Thou  hast  given  to  Greece  her  music  for  the 
grove,  and  to  Rome  her  music  for  the  battle,  and 
to  Egypt  her  music  for  the  funeral  march  of  time. 
But  I  am  glad  that  Thou  hast  added  one  strain 
more — a  strain  for  the  humble.  I  am  glad  that 
to  one  land  Thou  hast  given  the  simple  song,  ''  Be 
just,  be  good,  be  true !  "  I  am  glad  Thou  hast  a 
music  for  the  market-place,  a  chord  for  the  com- 
mon-place, a  warbling  for  the  worker,  a  pgean  for 
the  prosaic,  a  hymn  for  household  burdens,  a  song 
for  domestic  service,  a  light  for  manual  labour,  a 
stream  for  the  sultry  way.  Such  has  been  the 
mission  of  Thy  people  Israel. 


122 


GOD'S    ARGUMENT    AGAINST 
ASCETICISM 

••  I  will  not  henceforth  drive  out  any  from  before  them  of  the 
nations  which  Joshua  left  when  he  died,  that  through  them  I 
may  prove  Israel." — Judges  ii.  21,  22. 

"  I  WILL  not  henceforth  " — after  this  time.  Up 
to  this  time  God  had  made  life  easy  for  His 
people.  He  had  lightened  the  force  of  their 
temptations  by  isolating  them  from  bad  company 
— by  driving  out  the  idolatrous  tribes  which  used 
to  inhabit  the  land.  But  now  God  says,  '*  I  will 
make  a  change ;  I  will  let  the  bad  company 
remain."  The  spectator  would  have  said,  "This 
shows  there  is  no  Providence  in  history ;  if  there 
were,  would  God  allow  the  tares  to  corrupt  the 
wheat  ?  "  But  God  Himself  claims  the  seeming 
blot  as  a  bit  of  the  handwriting.  He  says  that  it 
is  just  for  the  sake  of  His  people  He  lets  the  bad 
company  remain,  "  that  through  them  I  may 
prove  Israel."  And  have  we  not  here  a  lesson  for 
all  time  ?  We  all  feel  that  the  temptations  of 
individual  life  grow  deeper  as  the  years  roll.  A 
123 


Thoughts   for  Life's  Journey 

child  has  few  temptations ;  it  has  too  Httle  sense 
of  the  value  of  things  to  be  tempted  by  them. 
Childhood  is  the  age  of  Joshua ;  it  is  sheltered 
from  its  foes.  But  as  life  opens,  temptation  comes. 
Youth's  paradise  has  forbidden  trees  which  are 
nevertheless  revealed  trees.  The  child  may  hide 
himself  among  the  leaves  of  the  garden ;  the 
young  man  dare  not.  Would  you  have  it  other- 
wise! Is  there  any  father  who  does  not  wish  to 
prove  his  son  !  Do  you  think  a  single  Christian 
virtue  could  exist  if  the  bad  nations  were  expelled  ! 
Could  there  be  faith  without  a  cloud,  patience 
without  a  delay,  hope  without  a  fear,  strength 
without  a  struggle  !  The  flowers  of  God  are  ripened 
by  the  frost.  Charity  comes  in  the  chill ;  pity  is 
born  of  pain;  sympathy  is  woven  by  sorrow; 
courage  is  bred  by  conflict ;  love  is  revealed  by  the 
threat  of  loss.  Grace,  too,  is  a  flower  of  the  battle- 
field. God  has  prepared  for  His  people  not  a 
desert,  but  a  city.  He  would  not  be  loved  without 
rivals.  He  would  not  have  you  come  to  Him  just 
because  there  is  no  other.  He  would  be  the  chief 
among  ten  thousand.  He  would  be  the  conqueror 
amid  conflicting  claims.  He  would  be  the  chosen 
out  of  the  million,  the  one  attraction  amid  many 
meetings.  That  is  why  He  drives  not  out  the 
temptations  of  the  soul. 

124 


God's  Argument   against   Asceticism 

Not  in  the  desert  would  I  serve  Thee,  O  my 
God.  I  would  not  come  to  Thee  simply  because 
I  have  lost  my  world,  because  Thou  hast  driven 
out  the  old  nations.  I  should  like  to  give  Thee  a 
better  proof  of  my  love  than  that.  Even  human 
love  has  sighed  to  prove  itself.  It  has  longed  for 
the  presence  of  danger  that  it  may  reveal  its  power 
of  sacrifice.  Shall  my  love  for  Thee  be  less  strong, 
O  my  Father  !  Shall  all  my  thirst  for  chivalry  be 
kept  for  earthly  beings !  Is  there  to  be  no  more 
amongst  us  the  spirit  of  that  man  who  cried, 
"  Lord,  if  it  be  Thou,  bid  me  that  I  come  to  Thee 
on  the  waters  "  !  Shall  not  my  love  for  Thee,  like 
Peter's,  wish  to  show  itself!  Shall  it  have  no 
romance  in  it — no  longing  to  dare  something,  to 
brave  something,  to  sacrifice  something !  Has  not 
romantic  youth  dreamed  of  how  it  will  plunge  into 
the  water  to  serve  the  object  of  its  love !  And 
shall  I  have  no  such  dream  of  serving  T/iee  !  Shall 
the  desert  be  dear  because  it  is  not  dangerous ! 
Shall  the  solitude  be  sweet  because  it  is  not 
sacrificial !  Shall  the  hermitage  be  holy  because 
it  has  no  hard  hours !  Nay,  my  Father,  give  me 
scope  for  my  love !  Bid  me  that  I  come  to  Thee 
on  the  waters !  Let  me  cherish  the  dream  that 
youth  delights  in — the  dream  of  devotion  in 
danger  !  Let  me  seek  Thee  in  the  storm  ;  let  me 
125 


Thoughts  for   Life's  Journey 

wait  Thee  on  the  wave  ;  let  me  find  Thee  'mid  the 
fires  ;  let  me  bless  Thee  in  the  battle  ;  let  me  praise 
Thee  in  Thy  peril;  let  me  help  Thee  in  Thy 
heaviness ;  let  me  join  Thee  at  Jerusalem ;  let  me 
crown  Thee  in  front  of  Thy  cross !  Drive  not  out 
the  nations  from  before  me 


126 


GOD'S  FAITHFULNESS  IN  THE  CLOUD 

"  The  children  of  Israel  asked  counsel  of  the  Lord,  saying, 
Shall  I  go  up  against  the  children  of  Benjamin,  my  brother  ? 
And  the  Lord  said.  Go  up  against  him.  And  Benjamin 
destroyed  of  the  children  of  Israel  eighteen  thousand  men." — 
Judges  xx.  23,  25. 

This  is  one  of  the  most  singular  statements  I 
have  met  with  in  the  whole  course  of  the  Bible. 
The  people  of  Israel  are  exercised  as  to  whether 
they  shall  go  up  to  battle.  They  ask  counsel  of 
God.  They  ask  it  honestly,  reverently.  They 
pour  out  their  hearts  in  prayer  for  a  revelation  o 
God's  will.  The  answer  comes,  Go  !  Joyous  at 
the  Divine  approval,  they  march  to  meet  the  foe ; 
they  are  defeated.  We  can  imagine  their  recrimina- 
tions against  God  and  religion.  We  are  tempted 
to  join  in  these  recriminations.  Is  this  the  value 
of  prayer  !  we  say.  Here  is  a  band  of  pious  men 
who  have  asked,  Shall  we  go  ?  and  received  the 
answer.  Yes.  And  yet  these  men  have  not  been 
successful ;  they  have  lost  the  day.  Methinks  the 
sorest  part  of  that  loss  would  be  the  seeming 
failure  of  their  God.  To  be  defeated  in  an  enter- 
127 


Thoughts   for   Life's  Journey 

prise  is  a  misfortune ;  but  to  be  defeated  after  God 
has  blessed  me,  to  be  defeated  after  God  has 
bidden  me  go,  to  be  defeated  when  I  am  only 
following  the  will  of  my  Father — that  seems  more 
than  a  misfortune  ;  it  appears  a  wrong.  But  look 
again.  Is  every  call  from  God  a  call  to  material 
success  ?  Is  there  no  such  thing  as  a  call  to  failure  ? 
What  is  that  which  God  wants  to  perfect  in  us  ? 
Is  it  the  sense  of  possession  ?  No,  it  is  the  sense 
of  sympathy.  And  how  is  sympathy  made  perfect  ? 
Is  it  by  the  number  of  my  victories  ?  Nay,  it  is 
by  the  number  of  my  defeats.  It  is  not  my 
gains  but  my  losses  that  make  me  human.  The 
disciples  on  the  Mount  had  both  a  triumph  and  a 
defeat ;  the  triumph  was  the  vision  of  glory,  the 
defeat  was  the  cloud  which  overshadowed  it.  Yet 
the  cloud  did  more  for  them  than  the  vision.  The 
vision  made  them  cold  to  their  brother  man ;  they 
wanted  to  live  in  mountain  tabernacles  above  the 
stream  of  toil.  But  the  cloud  sent  them  down  to 
the  demoniac  at  the  foot  of  the  hill — down  to  the 
wail  of  the  \^  eaiy,  down  to  the  sigh  of  the  sad.  It 
tuned  them  into  tenderness  ;  it  strung  them  into 
sympathy  ;  it  touched  their  chords  with  the  echoes 
of  human  care.  The  glory  would  have  stranded 
them  ;  God  made  the  cloud  their  chariot. 

O  my  Father,  Thy  promise  is  not  broken  by  thej 
128 


God's   Faithfulness   in  the   Cloud 

blast.  Often  have  I  marvelled  at  the  seeming 
failure  of  that  promise.  I  have  heard  Thee  say  to 
Abraham  in  the  watches  of  the  night,  **  I  will 
make  of  thee  a  great  nation";  and  when  the 
morning  came  I  have  seen  him  in  the  fires  of 
Mount  Moriah.  Yet  these  fires  were  to  him  Thy 
promise  fulfilled.  If  Thou  wouldst  make  of  me  a 
nation  it  can  only  be  through  pain.  My  heart  is 
no  highway  for  the  nations  till  it  runs  through  the 
path  of  thorns.  My  joys  often  divide  me  from  my 
brother.  My  prosperity  may  repel  him,  my  success 
may  anger  him,  my  year  of  jubilee  may  be  his  year 
of  jealousy.  But  in  the  fires  of  Moriah  he  calls 
me  brother.  He  comes  to  my  cross.  He  bleeds 
at  my  bereavement.  He  weeps  at  my  winter. 
He  sighs  at  my  setting  sun.  It  is  my  defeats  that 
have  won  my  battles,  O  my  Father.  Thou  hast 
promised  me  ten  legions,  and  Thou  hast  sent  me 
Calvary;  but  it  is  Calvary  that  has  made  the 
legions.  My  cross  has  fitted  me  for  the  crowd.  I 
was  apart  from  my  brother  till  I  walked  the  wave ; 
but  the  waters  made  us  one.  I  was  alone  on  the 
road  till  I  gained  the  Garden ;  but  my  sorrow 
became  my  city.  It  was  pain  that  parted  my 
garments  among  the  multitude — Thou  hast 
fulfilled  Thy  promise  in  a  cloud. 


I2g 


WORSHIP    IN    THE    PRACTICAL 

"They  departed  into  a  desert  place  by  ship  privately;  and 
Jesus,  when  He  came  out,  saw  much  people." — Mark  vi, 
32  and  34. 

Here  was  an  interrupted  purpose  of  religious 
rest.  The  disciples  follow  Jesus  through  a  private 
passage  with  the  view  of  being  with  Him  alone. 
Presently  they  find  themselves,  not  in  a  quiet  room 
as  they  expected,  but  in  the  midst  of  a  vast  and 
crowded  hall  where  the  wants  of  men  and  women 
clamour  to  be  known.  It  seemed  an  obstacle 
thrown  in  the  way  of  their  piety.  How  sweet  it 
would  have  been  to  be  alone  with  Jesus,  far  from 
the  madding  crowd  !  Why  are  they  not  allowed 
to  have  their  little  hour  of  intercourse  with  the 
Master,  undisturbed  by  the  wheels  of  life  !  We 
of  modern  times  have  often  asked  the  same 
question  regarding  ourselves.  Often  have  we 
looked  forward  to  the  prospect  of  freedom  from 
worldly  care.  We  have  said,  I  will  get  into 
private  life  and  then  I  shall  have  more  time  for 
communion  with  the  Spirit  of  Christ.      And  lo  ! 

130 


Worship   in   the   Practical 

as  we  come  out  from  the  world,  we  find  exactly 
what  the  disciples  found.  We  find  that  the 
cares  of  the  world  have  followed  us  into  our  retreat, 
that  our  life  is  as  crowded  as  it  ever  was,  that 
we  cannot  commune  with  a  solitary  Christ.  Is 
this  a  sad  experience  ?  I  do  not  think  so.  I 
do  not  believe  that  God  wishes  any  man  to  feel 
himself  alone  with  Christ.  If  he  did  feel  himself 
alone,  how  could  he  have  communion  with  Christ's 
Spirit !  My  fellowship  with  Christ  is  the  sight  of 
His  fellowship.  Peter  wanted  a  solitary  com- 
munion on  the  mountain-top :  "  Let  us  make 
three  tabernacles — one  for  Thee  and  one  for 
Moses  and  one  for  Elias."  Where  lay  the  sting 
of  the  proposal  ?  In  the  wish  to  include  Moses 
and  Elias  ?  Not  at  all ;  but  in  the  wish  to 
exclude  everybody  else.  A  Christ  upon  a  moun- 
tain apart,  a  Christ  whose  sympathy  was  limited 
to  five  communicants,  a  Christ  who  had  no  share 
in  the  labours  of  the  common  day — such  was  no 
object  for  reverence,  such  was  no  being  to  love. 
If  any  man  seeks  a  Christ  like  that,  God  will 
immediately  send  over  the  mountain  a  cloud 
of  human  cares,  and  allow  the  breeze  to  bear 
up  to  the  hilltop  the  cries  of  the  demoniac  on 
the  plain. 

Let   me  not   think,   O    Lord,  that  Thy    com- 
131  I  2 


Thoughts   for   Life's  Journey 

munion  is  confined  to  the  private  hour  !  When 
I  have  come  out  from  the  secret  passage  into 
the  crowded  hall,  let  me  not  say  I  have  parted 
from  Thee !  I  once  sought  a  place  for  silent 
prayer;  I  went  to  the  desert  to  find  it.  And  lo  ? 
when  I  arrived  I  could  not  get  near  Thee — 
the  pressure  of  the  crowd  was  so  great.  And 
I  said,  "  Why  in  this  world  of  time  hast  Thou 
allowed  us  so  little  leisure  to  prepare  for  eternity  !  '* 
But  now  I  understand  it,  O  my  God.  It  is  because 
the  preparation  for  Thine  eternity  is  not  leisure. 
Not  in  my  moments  of  meditation  do  I  mirror 
best  Thy  heaven.  I  meet  Thee  oftenest  when  I 
am  in  search  of  my  brother.  I  never  find  so 
short  a  way  to  Thy  New  Jerusalem  as  when  I 
am  beautifying  the  streets  of  the  Old.  I  have 
read  that  Mary  asked  the  dead  body  of  Thy 
Christ  and  found  instead  a  living  Lord,  So  has 
it  been  with  me ;  I  have  found  Thy  Spirit  when  I 
have  been  helping  maji's  body.  Never  have  I  seen 
Thee  so  clearly  as  when  I  was  breaking  bread  to 
the  hungry;  never  have  I  loved  Thee  so  dearly  as 
when  I  soothed  a  brother's  pain.  I  sought  the 
friendless  children,  and  I  discovered  Bethlehem. 
I  visited  the  humble  homes,  and  I  found 
Nazareth.  I  followed  the  tempter's  track,  and 
I  met  Thy  wilderness.  I  helped  the  marriage 
132 


Worship   in   the   Practical 

feast,  and  I  recognised  Cana.  I  gladdened  a 
dining-table,  and  I  saw  Bethany.  I  aided  the 
fisherman's  toil,  and  I  stood  by  the  Lake  of 
Tiberias.  I  bore  a  neighbour's  cross  up  the 
Dolorous  Way,  and  I  felt  myself  on  the  brow 
of  Olivet.  I  thank  Thee,  O  Father,  that  I  did 
not  find  my  desert. 


»33 


THE   SEEMING   MOMENTS   OF   DIVINE 
NEGLECT 

"He  saw  them  toiling  in  rowing;  He  cometh  unto  th  m, 
walking  upon  the  sea,  and  would  have  passed  by  them.' — 
Mark  vi.  48, 

"  He  would  have  passed  them  by."  He  made  t 
appear  as  if  He  were  bound  on  another  errand,  c  s 
if  He  had  not  come  for  the  purpose  of  helping 
them.  Why  so  !  When  human  life  is  struggUng, 
why  should  Divine  help  even  appear  to  pass  by  ! 
Is  this  a  subject  on  which  man  should  be  left  to 
doubt  even  for  an  hour  !  If  God  is  our  refuge 
and  our  strength  in  the  day  of  trouble,  why  should 
He  put  on  the  disguise  of  one  who  is  travelling  to 
farther  fields  and  who  is  bent  on  other  business  ! 
My  brother,  it  is  the  sublimest  wisdom  on  the 
part  of  your  Father.  God  is  your  very  present 
help  in  time  of  trouble;  but  I  do  not  think  it 
would  be  good  for  you  if  He  were  revealed  as 
**  very  present  " — present  in  such  nearness  as  to 
exclude  your  own  efforts.  We  often  say,  in 
speaking  of  human  charities,  that  any  help  is  bad 
which  precludes  s^//-help.  But  it  is  just  as  true 
of  the    charities    of    Almighty    God.     Nay,    His 

134 


The   Seeming   Moments   of  Divine    Neglect 

almightiness  makes  it  all  the  more  essential  that 
He  should  veil  His  presence.  Your  Father  will 
not  encourage  spiritual  pauperism.  If  you  are  on 
a  stormy  sea  He  will  save  you ;  but  He  will  not 
save  you  as  one  saves  a  bale  of  goods.  You  are 
not  a  bale  of  goods ;  you  are  a  man  ;  and  it  is  as 
a  man  He  would  save  you.  You  have  a  spirit, 
and  He  wants  the  co-operation  of  that  spirit. 
Your  effort  can  add  nothing  to  His  strength,  but 
it  can  add  greatly  to  your  own  value ;  and  it  is 
your  value  that  your  Father  wants  to  secure. 
That  is  the  reason  why  He  seems  to  pass  by.  He 
would  like  you  to  call  Him.  You  cannot  call  Him 
if  you  see  Him  to  be  here  already.  Your  cry 
requires  the  mist.  If  He  would  wake  the  spirit 
of  prayer  He  must  create  the  delusion  of  solitude; 
He  must  make  it  appear  as  if  you  were  alone. 
Therefore  it  is  that  He  makes  as  if  He  would  pass 
by.  He  hides  His  nearness  ;  He  conceals  His  pur- 
pose ;  He  veils  the  hand  that  already  touches  yours. 
My  soul,  often  have  I  heard  thee  say  with 
Israel's  prophet,  "  Verily  Thou  art  a  God  that 
hidest  Thyself !  "  And  in  this  thou  namest  thy 
Father  well.  He  is  indeed  a  God  that  hides 
Himself;  but  His  hiding  is  His  brightest  revealing. 
He  has  never  come  so  near  to  thee  as  when  He 
seems  to  pass  by.      It    is   always   by  night   thy 

135 


Thoughts   for  Life's  Journey 

Father  seeketh  thee — by  night  and  by  means  of 
night.  Not  thus  does  He  come  to  other  creatures. 
He  comes  to  the  sun  in  hght.  He  comes  to  the 
hill  in  gold.  He  comes  to  the  plant  in  warmth. 
He  comes  to  the  bird  in  song.  But  not  so  does 
He  begin  with  thee — He  cometh  to  thee  with 
clouds.  Wilt  thou  complain  that  thine  is  not  the 
fate  of  the  sun  or  the  hill  or  the  plant  or  the  bird? 
Then  art  thou  complaining  of  thine  own  greatness. 
He  comes  to  thee  in  the  night  because  He  desires 
to  hear  thy  cry.  Thou  art  the  only  creature  that 
has  a  cry  for  Him.  Nothing  else  would  pine  if 
He  passed  it  by.  The  sun  would  not  long  for  its 
light ;  the  hill  would  not  grieve  for  its  gold ;  the 
plant  would  not  weep  for  its  warmth ;  the  bird 
would  not  sigh  for  its  song.  But  thou  canst  long 
for  Him,  thou  canst  grieve  for  Him,  thou  canst 
weep  for  Him,  thou  canst  sigh  for  Him,  O  my 
soul.  The  night  of  other  things  brings  no  music 
to  His  ear;  but  thy  night  gives  Him  songs.  It 
warbles  thy  want  of  Him.  It  hymns  thy  hunger 
for  Him.  It  sings  thy  search  for  Him.  It  chants 
thy  choice  of  Him.  It  notes  thy  need  of  Him. 
It  preludes  thy  prayer  to  Him.  It  voices  the 
void  of  thy  heart  without  Him.  It  is  no  wonder 
that,  with  such  treasures  in  thy  night,  thy  Father 
oft  should  choose  the  night  for  thee. 

136 


PROVIDENCE    IN    THE    COMMON- 
PLACE 

"The  Spirit  said  unto  Philip,  Go   near,  and  join  thyself  to 
this  chariot." — Acts  viii,  29. 

The  Spirit  of  Providence  is  always  manifested  in 
joining  things.  It  does  not  work  miraculously, 
but  it  causes  separate  things  to  work  together. 
Here  was  a  whole  train  of  separate  incidents.  An 
Ethiopian  sat  in  his  chariot.  He  was  on  his 
return  journey — his  business  was  done,  and  there- 
fore his  mind  was  at  leisure.  Being  at  leisure,  he 
began  to  read.  Out  of  the  many  books  with  which 
he  might  have  passed  an  hour  he  chose  the 
Prophecies  of  Isaiah,  and,  as  the  place  was  a 
desert,  he  was  not  likely  to  be  disturbed.  But,  on 
the  road,  the  chariot  happened  to  pass  a  man,  and 
the  man  whom  it  passed  happened  to  be  a 
Christian  missionary.  Into  the  heart  of  the 
missionary  there  came  an  unaccountable  impulse 
to  run  after  the  chariot.  All  the  circumstances 
were  against  the  Ethiopian  stopping  his  horses. 
Why  should  he  take  up  a  pedestrian  simply 
because  he  was  so  impertinent  as  to  run  after  his 
137 


Thoughts   for   Life's  Journey 

carriage  !  And  then,  the  Ethiopian  was  reading ; 
why  interrupt  his  reading  by  taking  in  a  total 
stranger  !  Everything  said,  Do  not  stop  1  But  he 
did ;  and  by  that  act  all  the  separate  rays  were 
united.  They  came  together  in  one  providential 
beam.  Taken  by  themselves,  any  one  of  them 
might  have  been  an  accident.  A  carriage  on  a 
lonely  road  with  a  man  reading  inside  is  a  very 
common  thing.  A  pedestrian  running  behind  a 
carriage  is  a  very  common  thing.  A  religious 
teacher  in  an  obscure  sphere  is  a  very  common 
thing.  An  individual  studying  a  chapter  of  the 
Bible  is  a  very  common  thing.  The  momentary 
stopping  of  a  conveyance,  is  a  very  common  thing. 
But  when  all  these  seeming  accidents  were  united, 
the  result  was  a  startling  providence — the  Chris- 
tianising of  a  kingdom. 

Lord,  Thy  life-miracle  to  me  is  the  great  issue 
that  comes  from  the  union  of  trifling  things.  In 
the  world  of  chemistry  I  can  make  a  third 
substance  by  uniting  two  separate  substances; 
Thine  is  the  chemistry  of  life,  O  Lord.  We  go 
our  separate  ways,  my  brother  and  L  He  takes 
the  high  road  on  his  own  errand ;  I  take  the  low 
on  mine.  We  meet  at  an  unexpected  turning; 
and,  as  the  result,  there  is  fulfilled,  neither  his 
errand  nor  mine,  but  Thine.    And  what  in  all  this 

138 


Providence   in   the   Commonplace 

is  Thy  message  to  my  soul  ?  It  is  the  reverence 
for  the  trivial.  Can  I  ever  again  say  that  a  desert 
road  is  purposeless  ?  Can  I  ever  again  say  that  an 
obscure  ministerial  sphere  is  burial  ?  Can  I  ever 
again  say  that  the  passing  of  a  carriage  is 
uneventful  ?  No,  my  Father.  Henceforth  to  me 
these  shall  all  be  possible  sacraments.  I  shall 
uncover  my  head  to  them  as  I  go  by.  I  shall  look 
with  veneration  on  the  rejected  stones  of  life's 
temple.  When  my  lot  is  cast  in  an  obscure  place 
I  shall  bow  to  the  solitude ;  who  knows  but  Thou 
shalt  make  that  cloud  my  chariot !  When  I  am 
interrupted  in  reading  a  chapter  I  shall  not  say, 
"The  flesh  warreth  against  the  spirit";  who  knows 
but  my  interruption  may  be  Thy  commentary  ! 
When  I  see  but  one  man  in  my  audience  I  shall 
not  cry,  "  The  mission  has  failed  "  ;  who  knows 
but  in  that  one  there  is  secured  the  most  crowded 
of  all  cathedrals !  I  shall  build  an  altar  to  the 
commonplace ;  I  shall  reverence  life's  daily  round. 
I  shall  tremble  before  trifles  ;  I  shall  sacrifice  to 
the  small ;  I  shall  worship  what  the  world  calls 
worthless.  Samaria's  well  may  be  Thy  welcome, 
Simon's  feast  may  be  Thy  fellowship,  a  broken 
box  of  ointment  may  bring  beatitude  to  Thy 
heart ;  make  me  solemn  in  the  secular,  O  my 
God! 

139 


THE    TRUE    SPHERE    OF    FAITH 

"  They  could  not  enter  in  because  of  unbelief." — Heb.  hi.  19. 

It  is  not  an  entrance  into  heaven  that  is  here 
spoken  of,  but  an  entrance  into  earth.  The  writer 
is  speaking  of  a  physical  Canaan,  a  land  of  human 
rest.  I  think  we  lose  the  significance  of  the  words 
by  not  keeping  this  in  mind.  We  always  associate 
belief  with  the  salvation  of  the  soul ;  it  is  here 
made  a  provision  for  the  well-being  of  the  body — 
a  qualification  for  success  in  life.  And  the  remark- 
able thing  is  that  it  is  recommended  for  the 
entrance  into  life.  The  common  view  is  that  we 
should  gain  belief  by  our  earthly  struggles.  We 
think  of  youth  as  by  right  a  time  for  doubt,  for 
mental  unrest.  We  picture  the  soul's  progress  as 
a  search  for  God — its  early  years  a  battle-field,  its 
midday  a  suspended  judgment,  its  evening  a 
crown  of  peace.  Not  thus  thought  the  writer  to 
the  Hebrews.  To  him  belief  was  for  life's  entrance, 
life's  gateway.  Instead  of  regarding  the  world  as 
a  place  for  struggling  into  the  knowledge  of  God, 
he  regarded  God  as  a  means  of  struggling  into  a 
knowledge   of  the   world.      He  wished   to    begin 

140 


The   True    Sphere   of  Faith 

earthly  Hfe  with  God — not  to  seek  Him  by  the  aid 
of  candles,  but  to  light  candles  by  the  aid  of  Hi7n, 
And  is  he  not  right !  Suppose  a  young  man  to 
say,  "  I  am  about  to  get  married ;  if  I  am  happy 
in  my  married  life  I  shall  believe  in  God  ;  if  not, 
I  shall  refuse  to  believe."  Where  lies  the  fallacy 
of  such  a  test  ?  It  is  here — he  throw^s  into  the  sea 
half  his  capital  before  beginning  the  struggle  of 
life.  One  half,  at  least,  of  his  wedded  happiness 
will  depend  on  the  use  of  that  very  spirit  of 
religion  which  he  has  resolved  in  the  meantime 
to  tie  up  in  a  napkin.  It  will  not  do  to  begin 
the  world  without  God,  and  say,  when  you  trip, 
"This  proves  there  is  no  God."  It  is  hke  an 
invalid  who  insists  on  walking  by  himself  to  see 
if  there  is  a  couch  ten  miles  off.  He  must  have 
his  couch  before  starting — he  must  begin  with 
rest.  It  is  not  by  experience  we  gain  calm  ;  it  is 
by  calm  we  gain  experience.  The  wings  by  which 
I  rise  must  be  fostered  in  the  nest.  The  force  by 
which  I  run  must  be  nourished  at  the  hearth. 
The  strength  by  which  I  toil  must  be  fanned  by 
the  peace  of  home.  To  tread  the  courts  of  man  I 
must  trust  the  course  of  God. 

Lord,  come  to  me  on  life's  threshold,  come  to 
me  in  the  morning  hour  !     Not  when  the  day  is 
far  spent  would  I  first  meet  Thee.     It  might  help 
141 


Thoughts   for   Life's  Journey 

me  for  another  world,  but  it  would  be  too  late  for 
this.  It  is  not  enough  for  me  to  gain  heaven  ;  I 
must  win  earth.  I  know  that  the  parting  sigh  of 
a  dying  thief  may  secure  paradise ;  but  what 
untilled  ground  it  will  leave  behind  !  I  know  that 
even  at  evening  time  there  may  be  light — that  my 
heart  may  burn  as  I  walk  with  Thee  towards  the 
setting  day.  But  the  burning  is  for  a  new  day — 
not  for  this ;  the  fire  in  my  bush  is  no  longer  for 
the  wilderness.  I  should  like  an  earlier  flame,  O 
my  God.  Why  should  my  heart  wait  for  Emmaus 
to  set  it  on  fire !  Why  should  it  not  be  kindled  at 
Jordan— kindled  for  the  wilderness,  kindled  for 
the  marriage  feast,  kindled  for  the  weariness  at 
Samaria's  well !  Is  it  not  for  earth  I  chiefly  need 
my  heart's  burning  !  Why  should  I  keep  my  faith 
in  Thee  for  the  days  of  heaven !  Is  it  not  here 
that  it  would  most  help  me — here,  where  the 
streets  are  not  of  gold — here,  where  the  gates  are 
not  of  pearl — here,  where  the  rivers  are  not 
crystal-pure  !  I  wish  Thee  for  warfare  ;  I  need 
Thee  for  night ;  I  seek  Thee  for  struggle ;  I  prize 
Thee  for  privation  ;  I  want  Thee  for  the  hours  of 
weariness ;  I  crave  Thee  for  the  strength  in  con- 
flict; I  cling  to  Thee  for  the  rainbow  in  the  cloud. 
Experience  may  tarry  for  the  noontide,  but  faith 
should  come  with  the  morning  light. 

142 


THE    DIVINE    IN    THE    HUMBLE 

•'  Is  not  this  the  carpenter,  the  son  of  Mary,  the  brothei 
of  James,  and  Joses,  and  of  Judah,  and  Simon  ?  and  are  not 
his  sisters  here  with  us?  And  they  were  offended  at  Him." 
— Mark  vi.  3. 

This  is  the  earliest  offence  given  by  the  Gospel ; 
and  to  my  mind  it  is  deeply  suggestive,  because  I 
think  it  is  still  the  earliest  offence  taken  by  each 
individual  soul.  What  is  the  ground  of  complaint 
here  spoken  of  ?  Briefly  stated,  it  is  the  homeli- 
ness of  Christianity.  Men  refused  to  recognise 
a  thing  which  grew  amid  such  mean  surroundings. 
Had  Jesus  claimed  anything  less  than  a  Divine 
message  there  would  have  been  no  objection  to 
His  mean  surroundings.  Had  He  claimed  merely 
the  inspiration  of  human  genius  no  one  would 
have  seen  any  contradiction  in  the  poverty  of  His 
environment.  For  all  human  conditions  the  Jew 
prescribed  toil ;  he  desired  that  every  man  should 
learn  a  trade,  should  live  as  if  he  had  to  earn  his 
bread.  But  when  he  came  to  speak  of  man's 
relation  to  God,  then  changed  the  spirit  of  his 
dream.     To  him  the  attitude  of  God  was  e\  or  one 

H3 


Thoughts   for   Life's  Journey 

of  rest.  His  God  lay  in  the  secret  place  of  His 
pavilion,  with  the  curtains  drawn,  and  the  doors 
shut,  and  the  windows  deafened  ;  He  could  only 
work  through  His  angels  ;  He  must  not  soil  His 
hands  with  mundane  things.  He  who  professed 
to  be  a  Son  of  God  must  be  a  child  of  mystery. 
He  must  have  nothing  homely  about  Him.  He 
must  be  all  soul,  no  body ;  all  wings,  no  feet ;  all 
poetry,  no  prose ;  all  heaven,  no  earth.  And  is 
not  this  also  our  first  ideal  of  the  Divine  Life.  In 
our  moments  of  religious  awakening  we  deny  that 
morality  is  evangelical.  We  are  offended  when  a 
preacher  cries,  "  Salvation  is  goodness,  work  is 
worship,  integrity  is  the  service  of  God !  "  We 
say,  "These  are  common  things,  homely  things, 
things  for  the  exchange  and  the  market-place  ; 
you  will  see  them  in  Nazareth  every  day."  Happy 
Nazareth ! — I  would,  then,  that  all  the  cities  were 
like  thee  !  Know  ye  not  that  God's  mountain  is 
man's  valley!  What  did  Christ  bless  on  the 
mount  ?  It  was  earth's  homehest  flowers — humble- 
mindedness,  sorrow  for  another's  fall,  good  temper, 
wish  to  do  right,  slowness  to  revenge,  imputing  of 
pure  motives,  power  to  throw  oil  on  troubled 
waters.  These  are  the  seven  valley  flowers  which 
the  Lord  has  blessed. 

Be  not  offended  at  their  lowliness,  O  my  soul ! 
144 


The   Divine   in   the    Humble 

I  have  heard  thee  say,  "  Oh,  these  were  only  the 
virtues  for  beginners  !  "  Not  thus  did  thy  Lord 
mean  them.  These  valley  flowers  are  carried  to 
the  top  of  the  hill ;  it  is  there  they  are  displayed. 
Why  did  He  carry  them  up;  why  did  He  not  bring 
thee  down  to  the  vale  and  show  them  as  they 
grew  ?  Just  because  He  would  have  thee  to  know 
they  were  not  beginner's  flowers.  Thinkest  thou 
it  is  easy  to  be  good  in  common  things !  There 
is  no  task  for  thee  so  arduous.  It  is  easy  to  feel 
poor  in  spirit  when  thou  art  under  the  stars  of  God ; 
but  it  is  hard  to  feel  so  under  the  rebuke  of  man. 
It  is  easy  to  be  meek  in  the  presence  of  the  wise ; 
but  it  is  hard  to  suppress  thyself  in  the  streets  of 
Nazareth.  It  is  easy  to  think  charitably  of  those 
who  walk  on  a  plain  above  thee  ;  but  it  is  hard  to 
think  so  in  the  rivalries  of  the  exchange.  It  is 
easy  for  thy  pride  to  make  its  peace  with  heaven  ; 
but  it  is  hard  to  throw  oil  on  the  waters  if  thou 
art  insulted  by  an  earthly  worm.  Gather  thy 
valley  flowers  !  Take  them  up  tenderly ;  care  for 
them  constantly ;  watch  them  right  warily  !  Water 
them  lest  they  wither;  protect  them  lest  they 
perish ;  fan  them  with  heaven's  air  lest  they  fade 
and  die !  The  flowers  of  Galilee  shall  be  the 
flowers  of  Paradise  ;  magnify  thy  Nazareth,  O  my 
soul ! 

H5  K 


UNCONSCIOUS    CHRISTIANITY 

"Then  asked  they  him,  What  man  is  that  which  said  unto 
thee,  Take  up  thy  bed  and  walk?  And  he  that  was  healed 
wist  not  who  it  was."— John  v.  12,  13. 

Here  is  a  man  who  is  very  defective  in  his 
answers  to  the  catechism,  yet  who  bears  in  his 
body  the  marks  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  The  school- 
master puts  to  him  the  question,  "  What  man  is 
that  which  said  unto  thee,  *  Take  up  thy  bed  and 
walk  '  ?  "  He  is  speechless.  He  is  absolutely 
without  a  theology.  He  can  give  no  account  of 
Jesus — who  He  was,  where  He  came  from,  whither 
He  was  going.  Men  would  have  said  he  was  an 
agnostic;  he  "wist  not."  Yet,  all  unconsciously 
to  himself,  this  man  was  already  a  Christian. 
He  had  bathed  in  the  crystal  fountain  ;  he  had 
felt  the  sparkling  spray;  he  had  experienced  a 
new  life  in  heart  and  limb.  He  was  a  disciple 
without  knowing  it — a  follower  without  a  faith,  a 
convert  without  a  creed,  a  devotee  without  a 
doctrine.  If  you  had  asked  him  what  church  he 
belonged  to,  he  would  assuredly  have  answered, 
**  I  am  member  of  no  church  "  ;  I  do  not  know  of 
146 


f-L 


Unconscious   Christianity 


any  communion  that  would  have  received  a  man 
of  such  Hmited  knowledge.  Yet  at  that  very 
moment  his  name  was  certainly  enrolled  among 
the  members  of  the  Church  Invisible.  He  was 
one  of  the  hundred  and  forty-four  thousand.  He 
was  numbered  in  the  census  of  the  New  Jerusalem. 
He  was  a  singer  in  the  Choir  Celestial ;  but  he 
knew  not  the  song  he  was  singing.  He  was  a 
painter  in  the  Gallery  of  Grace ;  but  he  saw  not 
the  forms  he  was  weaving.  He  was  a  builder  of 
the  Church  Universal;  but  he  thought  he  was 
making  only  a  place  for  men  to  dwell  in.  He  was 
led  by  the  hand  of  Jesus ;  but  he  thought  it  was 
a  servant's  hand. 

Lord,  there  are  many  men  of  Bethesda  among 
Thy  people  still.  There  are  those  who,  like 
Jacob,  get  a  blessing  from  Thee  before  they  have 
learned  Thy  name.  Often  have  I  figured  to 
myself  that  little  child  whom  Thou  didst  raise 
in  Thine  arms.  It  got  the  blessing  before  it 
received  the  teaching.  Many  there  be  who  enter 
into  Thy  temple  by  that  door.  They  serve  Thee 
ere  they  can  name  Thee.  Like  Abraham,  they  walk 
in  the  Promised  Land  and  think  themselves  else- 
where. They  do  not  know  the  cause  of  their  own 
hearts'  burning.  They  say,  "  I  got  it  from  the 
torch  of  Nature ;  I  was  walking  on  the  road  to 
147  K  2 


Thoughts  for  Life's  Journey 

Emmaus,  and  a  man  met  me  and  gave  me  light." 
Thou  art  that  man,   O   Lord.     It  is   Thou  who 
disguisest  Thyself  in  the  dress  of  common  day. 
It  is  Thou  that  meetest  us  on  the  secular  road, 
the    Emmaus     road,    the     road    of    those     who 
think  they  have   abandoned   Thee.     It   is   Thou 
whom  we  take  to  be  the  gardener;  it  is  Thou 
whom  we  mistake  for  the  stranger.     Often  do  we 
say  to  a  wayworn  traveller,  ''  Abide  with  us,  for 
it  is  evening,  and  the  day  is  far  spent."     We  call 
the   deed   our    philanthropy,  our    humanity,   our 
natural  charity.     And,  all  the  time,  it  is  prompted 
by  Thee.     It  is  Thou  whom  I  have  asked  to  abide 
with  me.     It  is  Thou  whom  I  have  sheltered  from 
the  night.     It  is  Thou  whom  I  have  constrained 
to  come  in  and  rest  awhile.     My  charity  has  been 
chimed  by  Thee;  my  pity  has  been  plumed  by 
Thee ;   my  heart  has  been  heated  by  Thee ;   my 
kindness   has  been  kindled  by  Thee;    my   com- 
passion has  been  created  by  Thee.     My  benevo- 
lence is  Thy  blessing  ;    my  philanthropy  is  Thy 
flame;    my  grace  is  Thy  gift;    my   love  is  Thy 
light ;  my  mercy  is  Thy  mediation  ;  my  sympathy 
is  Thy  sacrifice ;  my  tenderness  is  Thy  tending  ; 
my  warmth  is  the  working  of  Thy  wings.     I  have 
sought  my  brother  by  the  footprints  left  by  Thee, 
and  I  wist  not  that  they  were  Thine. 
148 


THE    GOAL    OF    ADVERSITY 

"  He  took  her  by  the  hand  and  lifted  her  up,  and  immedi- 
ately the  fever  left  her;  and  she  ministered  unto  them."— 
Mark  i.  31. 

Mark  had  a  very  active  mind — the  most  active 
mind  of  all  the  four  evangelists.  He  delights  to 
record  not  words  but  deeds.  I  do  not  think  that 
any  of  the  others,  after  teUing  of  this  woman's 
cure,  would  have  immediately  added,  "  and  she 
ministered  unto  them."  The  sequel  is  not  what  we 
should  expect.  When  an  invalid  awakes  from  the 
prostration  of  fever  we  expect  to  hear  that  others 
minister  to  her — do  what  they  can  to  repair  the 
ravages  of  disease.  The  first  thing  Matthew 
records  about  the  convalescent  daughter  of  Jairus 
is  the  command  of  Jesus  that  "something  should 
be  given  her  to  eat."  No  doubt  the  time  came 
when  she  also  ministered  to  the  household ;  but 
Matthew  does  not  pass  on  to  that ;  he  drops  the 
curtain  at  the  couch  of  the  invalid.  Is  Mark,  then, 
less  sympathetic  ?  Is  it  want  of  sentiment  that 
makes  him  haste  to  tell  us  how  soon  this  woman 
149 


Thoughts   for   Life's  Journey 

was  up  and  at  her  work  again  ?  No ;  I  think  it  is 
the  opposite  feehng.  Mark  feels  that  the  great  use 
of  a  temporary  personal  burden  is  the  power  it 
gives  for  human  ministration.  This  is  a  side  of 
the  subject  which  we  do  not  often  look  at.  We 
seldom  view  our  invalid  moments  as  preparations 
for  increased  activity.  But  Mark  does  so  view 
them ;  to  him  this  is  their  glory.  The  woman 
raised  from  the  bed  of  fever  is  not  merely  restored; 
she  is  magnified.  She  is  in  a  better  state  than  if 
she  had  never  been  ill.  ;  The  illness  has  been  an 
enrichment.  I  think  her  new  ministrant  attitude 
must  have  been  to  her  friends  as  great  a  surprise, 
as  great  a  miracle,  as  her  cure.  They  saw  her, 
very  likely,  as  they  had  never  seen  her  before — 
lending  a  helpful  hand  with  a  cheerful  spirit.  But 
to  us  of  later  years  this  will  be  no  surprise.  We 
have  learned  something — the  very  lesson  which 
Mark  meant  to  teach  us — that  pain  is  the  ivory 
gate  and  golden  which  leads  into  the  heart  of  our 
brother. 

My  soul,  it  was  by  the  gate  of  the  temple  called 
Beautiful  that  the  lame  man  was  laid;  in  the 
moments  of  thine  impotence,  remember  that. 
Remember  that  thine  experience  of  the  cross  is 
itself  the  gate  into  the  temple  of  sympathy.  I  do 
not  say  it  is  thine  only  gate  into  Heaven;  Heaven 
150 


The   Goal  of  Adversity 

has  many  temples — many  mansions.  Thou  shalt 
know  by  the  training  here  what  shall  be  thy 
temple  yonder.  Perhaps  thine  is  here  an  inquir- 
ing mind ;  there  are  yonder  those  who  "  inquire 
in  His  temple."  Perhaps  thine  is  here  the  gift  of 
eloquence ;  there  are  yonder  those  who  "  in  His 
temple  speak  of  His  glory."  Perhaps  thou  hast 
here  the  spirit  of  an  artist ;  there  are  yonder  those 
whose  temple  is  a  place  in  which  '*  to  behold  the 
beauty  of  the  Lord."  But  it  may  be  that  here  thy 
lot  is  simply  to  lie  low — to  be  prostrated  on  a  bed 
of  pain.  That  battered  gate  is  the  most  beautiful 
of  all.  It  is  thy  training  for  the  night  service.  It 
is  thy  school  for  learning  the  art  of  mercy.  The 
barrier  that  chains  thee  is  a  rudimentary  wing ; 
one  day  thou  shalt  fly  with  it.  One  day  it  will 
bear  thee  on  errands  of  love.  One  day  it  will 
carry  thee  to  the  spirits  in  prison  that  thou  mayst 
lead  them  to  fountains  of  living  water.  One  day 
thou  shalt  open  more  doors  than  the  angels, 
because  the  a  hast  been  where  they  have  not — in 
the  valley  of  tribulation.  In  the  hour  thou  callest 
death  Christ  shall  take  thee  by  the  hand,  and  on 
the  wings  of  thine  earthly  infirmity  thou  shalt  arise 
and  minister. 


151 


THE    LIMIT    TO    DIVINE 
RETRIBUTION 

"  I  will  correct  thee  with  judgment." — Jer.  xlvi.  28  (R.  V.). 

The  love  of  a  good  father  is  as  much  seen  in 
his  punishments  as  in  his  rewards.  We  all  recog- 
nise the  truth  that  the  reward  given  to  a  child 
should  be  on  the  lines  of  the  child's  nature.  No 
father  would  recompense  a  boy  of  seven  by  giving 
him  a  copy  of  Matthew  Henry's  Commentary;  we 
should  call  that  a  reward  without  judgment.  But 
parents  do  not  so  often  recognise  the  fact  that  a 
child's  penalty  should  be  also  on  the  lines  of  his 
nature,  that  he  should  not  be  corrected  without 
judgment.  A  boy  transgresses  on  the  Sabbath 
day;  you  send  him  to  write  out  the  hundred  and 
nineteenth  psalm.  What  is  the  objection  to  this? 
It  is  too  much,  you  say.  That  is  not  the  objec- 
tion ;  the  evil  does  not  lie  in  the  quantity.  It  is 
not  that  the  penalty  is  too  much,  but  that  it  is  too 
inappropriate.  It  is  actually  helping  the  child's 
heart  to  transgress  against  the  Sabbath ;  it  is 
fomenting  his   dislike  of  religious  ordinances  in 

152 


The   Limit  to    Divine    Retribution 

general  and  of  the  Bible  in  particular;  it  is  a 
correction  without  judgment.  A  girl  tells  you  a 
lie  through  fear ;  you  lock  her  in  a  dark  room. 
Is  that  a  wise  correction  ?  No  ;  you  are  develop- 
ing that  very  element  which  has  caused  her  to 
err — the  overmastering  power  of  fear.  Or,  instead 
of  the  dark  room,  you  confront  her  thenceforth 
with  a  perpetually  dark  countenance — a  face 
which  says :  **  You  know  I  can  believe  nothing 
from  you/''  Is  that  correction  wise?  No;  it  is 
telling  her  she  is  measured  by  a  low  standard ; 
and  when  she  realises  that,  she  will  soon  come  to 
measure  herself  by  a  low  standard.  Never  tell  a 
child  that  you  expect  nothing  from  him ;  that  is 
the  way  to  get  nothing.  At  the  time  of  the  flood, 
never  forget  to  show  the  rainbow,  for  the  rainbow 
is  never  so  needed  as  then.  It  is  in  the  hour  of 
penalty  that  we  need  the  promise.  Innocence  can 
dispense  with  vision ;  Eden  can  bloom  without 
prophecies ;  but  the  heart  of  fallen  Adam  must 
be  cheered  with  the  prediction  of  the  serpent 
bruised. 

There  is  always  a  light  in  Thy  valley,  O  Lord ; 
Thy  correction  is  ever  tempered  with  judgment. 
I  have  heard  that  every  sin  deserves  Thy  wrath 
and  curse.  No,  every  sin  deserves  Thy  penalty 
and  Thy  promise.  The  stroke  and  the  star,  the 
153 


Thoughts  for   Life's  Journey 

retribution  and  the  rainbow,  the  pain  and  the 
pity,  the  smiting  and  the  smile — that  is  what  my 
erring  soul  requires.  Thou  wilt  never  send  the 
stroke  without  the  star,  the  smiting  without  the 
smile.  The  famine  and  the  swine-husks  alone 
could  not  send  the  prodigal  home ;  it  required  the 
attraction  of  Thine  eye — the  eye  that  followed 
him  when  he  was  yet  afar  off.  The  pain  of  my 
sin  comes  not  from  the  rod,  but  from  the  rose — 
the  ''awful  rose  of  dawn."  I  cannot  feel  my 
chain  till  I  hear  the  voices  of  liberty.  It  is  when 
I  see  in  the  distance  the  warm  fire  of  Thy  love 
that  I  learn  how  cold  I  am.  It  is  from  Thy  sun- 
beams that  my  stripes  must  come.  Nothing  but 
light  can  lash  my  sin.  Nothing  but  beauty  can 
burn  my  corruption.  Nothing  but  revelation  can 
rend  my  heart.  It  was  when  he  saw  Thy  look  of 
love  that  Peter  wept  bitterly.  My  sin  can  only 
be  punished  by  a  sense  of  Thy  mercy  ;  correct  me 
by  Thy  mercy,  O  Lord  I 


^54 


THE     FAITH     PRECEDING     EVIDENCE 

"  Faith  which  worketh  by  love." — Gal.  v.  6. 

I  TAKE  the  words  to  mean  that  there  are  things 
for  which  love  is  itself  the  evidence.  There  is  a 
familiar  saying,  "  Seeing  is  believing."  But  it  is 
equally  true  that  "  feeling  is  believing."  There 
are  some  in  this  world  who  love  because  they 
believe ;  but  I  think  there  are  a  still  larger  num- 
ber who  believe  because  they  love.  It  has  always 
seemed  to  me — though  it  is  not  the  common 
opinion — that  St.  John  belongs  to  the  first  class 
and  St.  Paul  to  the  second.  John's  motto  is, 
*'  Believe,  and  live  "  ;  Paul's  motto  is,  '*  Live,  and 
believe."  John  sees  the  transfiguration  glory  and 
then  lies  upon  Christ's  bosom ;  Paul  lies  upon  the 
bosom  and  is  then  caught  up  to  see  the  glory. 
John  says,  "  If  we  walk  in  the  light  we  shall  have 
fellowship";  Paul  cries,  *' If  ye  be  rooted  and 
grounded  in  love  ye  shall  be  able  to  comprehend, 
with  all  saints,  what  passeth  knowledge."  I  have 
seen  two  children,  each  animated  by  perfect  trust 
in  an  earthly  father,  but  each  for  a  different  reason. 
^5S 


Thoughts   for  Life's  Journey 

The  one  virtually  said,  "  I  trust  him  because  he 
loves  me " ;  the  other  said  in  effect,  "  I  trust 
because  I  love  him.''  Now,  I  think  the  larger 
number  of  the  human  race  belong  to  the  latter 
class.  The  amount  of  faith  we  repose  in  others  is 
quite  disproportionate  to  our  knowledge  of  them. 
You  will  see  two  girls  in  the  course  of  a  few  hours 
becoming  mutual  confidants.  Why  is  this  ?  It  is 
because  they  have  taken  a  liking  for  one  another. 
Their  faith  in  each  other  has  had  nothing  to  work 
upon  but  love.  There  has  not  been  time  for 
experience.  Love  is  the  anticipatov  of  experience. 
Love  pays  in  advance ;  it  gives  the  money  before 
it  receives  the  thing.  Divine  love  is  no  exception. 
God  pays  man  in  advance  for  services  not  yet 
rendered;  I  suppose  that  is  what  the  prophet 
means  when  he  cries,  "  Behold !  His  reward  is 
with  Him  and  His  work  before  Him  !  "  Love  gives 
its  confidence  in  advance.  It  waits  not  for  proof. 
It  lingers  not  for  corroboration.  It  suspends  not 
its  trust  till  its  object  is  weighed  in  the  balance. 
It  surrenders  its  faith  unpaid  for. 

My  brother,  be  this  thy  faith  in  thy  fellow-man ! 
Do  not  wait  till  thou  hast  proved  him !  Thou 
lookest  abroad  upon  the  lapsed  masses;  thou 
seest  no  beauty  to  be  desired  in  them.  Wilt  thou 
then  let  them  go  ?     Is  thy  faith  to  be  dependent 


The   Faith   Preceding  Evidence 

on  sight  ?  Not  if  thou  lovest.  If  thou  lovest  thy 
lapsed  brother  thou  wilt  hope  all  things  for  him. 
Love  gives  the  benefit  of  the  doubt  to  those  who 
seem  unpromising.  Love  imputes  its  own 
righteousness  to  those  who  are  still  in  shadow. 
Love  believes  in  to-morrow  for  those  in  a  dark 
to-day.  My  brother,  if  thou  lovest,  thou  shalt 
believe  that  all  things  are  possible  for  man. 
Though  as  yet  thou  seest  no  rainbow,  though  as 
yet  thou  hearest  no  bells  across  the  snow,  though 
as  yet  there  has  come  from  the  waters  not  even 
an  olive  branch  of  peace,  still  thou  shalt  believe. 
Love  itself  shall  be  thy  rainbow  ;  love  itself  shall 
be  thy  bell  of  hope ;  love  itself  shall  be  thy 
message  from  the  flood.  Humanity  is  still  climb- 
ing the  Dolorous  Way  —  fainting  beneath  her 
crosses,  groaning  amid  her  thorns.  Wait  not 
till  she  has  conquered,  wait  not  till  she  is 
crowned  !  Go  out  to  meet  her  in  her  climbing  ! 
Go  out  to  greet  her  in  her  night !  Go  out  to  own 
her  in  her  rags !  Take  up  her  bitter  cross  and  call 
it  thine  !  And  if  men  say  to  thee,  *'  Why  darest 
thou  to  hope  for  these  withered  leaves?"  lay  thy 
hand  upon  thy  heart  and  say,  "  Love  believeth  all 
things  1 " 


^57 


THE    SUCCOUR    OF    THE    TEMPTED 

"  In  that  He  Himself  hath  suffered,  being  tempted,  He  is 
able  to  succour  them  that  are  tempted." — Heb.  ii.  i8. 

How  can  the  writer  to  the  Hebrews  say  this 
when  he  himself  tells  us  that  Christ's  temptation 
was  "without  sin  "  ?  Is  not  the  absence  of  sin 
the  absence  of  a  most  important  element  for  a 
sympathiser  with  human  weakness  ?  No,  it  is 
not.  The  soreness  of  a  temptation,  in  my  opinion, 
never  lies  in  the  presence  of  sin ;  it  lies  precisely 
in  the  concealment  of  sin.  If  the  sin  of  the  act 
were  conspicuous,  there  would  be  very  little 
struggle.  The  struggle  of  the  temptation  lies  in 
the  hiding  of  the  evil.  Temptation  did  not  come 
to  Jesus  as  a  choice  between  good  and  evil — I  do 
not  think  in  its  sorest  form  it  comes  to  any  man 
as  a  choice  between  good  and  evil.  What  we 
struggle  with  is  a  masked  form,  and  we  struggle 
to  unmask  it.  The  tempter  tells  Jesus  that  certain 
drastic  acts  will  be  for  the  good  of  the  kingdom. 
In  that  motive  lies  Christ's  temptation  ;  His  whole 
struggle  is   to   discover  whether  the   drastic  act 

15S 


The   Succour   of  the   Tempted 

would  really  be  for  the  good  of  His  kingdom; 
when  He  decides  that  it  would  not,  the  soreness  of 
the  temptation  is  gone.  We  have  not  all  such  high 
motives  for  listening  to  the  tempter ;  but  we  have 
always  a  higher  motive  than  the  intrinsic  love  of 
sin.  When  we  are  tempted  to  do  wrong  our 
danger  lies  in  the  eclipse  of  sin — ^just  as  Christ's 
danger  lay  in  His  actual  sinlessness.  The  succour 
we  need  is  precisely  the  same  as  the  succour  He 
needed.  We  want  to  be  shown  that  the  course 
proposed  would  be  evil ;  our  cry  is,  **  Show  us  the 
tempter,  and  it  sufficeth — sufficeth  to  make  us 
flee  !  "  It  is  because  Christ  can  do  this  that  He 
is  able  to  succour. 

Jesus,  when  I  go  up  to  the  mount  of  temptation, 
let  it  be  with  Thee  !  I  am  bound  to  go  up,  even 
as  Thou  wert.  Often  have  I  thought  of  these 
words,  **  Jesus,  being  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  was 
led  by  the  Spirit  into  the  wilderness."  Yes,  it 
was  Thy  spiritual  ecstasy  that  made  the  wilderness 
inevitable  to  Thee.  It  is  my  spiritual  ecstasy  that 
makes  my  wilderness  inevitable.  It  is  after  my 
exaltation  that  my  reaction  comes.  It  is  the  very 
glory  of  my  baptism  that  brings  my  desert.  The 
sight  of  the  open  heavens  makes  me  scorn  the 
slow  methods  of  earth.  I  am  tempted  to  follow 
new  paths,  quicker  paths — to  be  restive  under  the 
159 


Thoughts   for  Life's  Journey 

old  regime.  Succour  me,  O  Lord  !  Succour  me 
as  Thou  Thyself  wert  succoured — by  a  vision  of 
the  sin  beneath  the  seeming  good  !  Show  me  that 
the  old  regime  is  the  Will  of  the  Father,  that  the 
new  method  is  my  own  will !  Unmask  the  seeming 
sanctity  of  sin  !  Disrobe  the  tempter  of  his 
trappings  of  truth  !  Draw  aside  the  veil  from  the 
face  of  evil !  If  I  could  see  that  face,  temptation 
would  die.  Reveal  it,  O  Christ !  Thou  alone 
canst  reveal  sin.  Nothing  but  purity  can  disclose 
impurity.  It  is  written,  *'  In  Thy  light  shall  we 
see  light  "  ;  yea,  but  it  is  also  true,  *'  In  Thy  light 
shall  we  see  darkness."  Shine,  and  I  shall  know 
what  night  is !  Sing,  and  I  shall  know  what  dis- 
cord is  !  Speak,  and  I  shall  know  what  silence  is  ! 
Touch,  and  I  shall  know  what  solitude  is  !  In- 
spire, and  I  shall  know  what  meanness  is  ! 
Quicken,  and  I  shall  know  what  death  is  !  Reveal 
sin  by  the  brightness  of  Thy  coming,  and  I  shall 
yield  to  temptation  no  morel 


i6o 


BLEMISHES    IN    THE    GREAT 

'•  Then  Daniel  was  astonied  for  one  hour." — Dan.  iv.  19. 

The  words  to  my  mind  are  strongly  dramatic. 
They  are  meant  to  convey  the  impression  of  a 
contradiction  in  terms.  Daniel  at  a  loss  even  for 
one  hour  !  Daniel  at  sea  !  Daniel  at  the  end  of 
his  resources  I  It  seems  the  climax  of  impossi- 
bility. For  one  hour  of  his  life  Daniel  falsified 
his  character — was  found  paralysed  in  judgment. 
Is  it  not  a  pity  that  God  allowed  it !  Is  it  not  a 
pity  that  man  recorded  it !  Do  we  not  love  to 
think  of  Socrates  as  never  having  lost  his  temper ! 
of  Caesar  as  never  having  lost  a  battle  !  of  Solomon 
as  never  having  lost  an  opportunity  !  Why  should 
the  Bible  have  allowed  one  rent  to  appear  in  the 
seamless  robe  of  Daniel ;  is  it  not  a  breach  of 
Divine  art  ?  I  do  not  think  so.  I  hold  that 
nothing  brings  out  moral  beauty  like  a  shadowy 
background.  What  a  charming  light  is  thrown 
upon  Daniel's  wisdom  by  this  one  hour  of  per- 
plexity !  It  shows  that  his  wisdom  was  the  result 
of  personal  struggle — that  it  was  not  the  wisdom 
161  L 


Thoughts  for  Life's  Journey 

of  the  bee  or  of  the  spider  or  of  the  ant — imposed 
from  the  outside,  but  that  it  was  something  to 
which,  through  darkness,  he  had  to  work  his  way. 
Men  talk  of  the  examples  of  the  great ;  I  think 
the  finest  part  of  their  example  is  the  one  hour  in 
which  they  fail.  That  one  hour  makes  them 
possible  for  me.  Before  it,  I  looked  upon  them  as 
specially  endowed,  raised  by  nature  far  above  the 
reach  of  my  hand.  But  that  hour  said  :  "  Go  and 
do  thou  likewise !  "  It  told  me  that  he  whom  I 
admired  was  a  man  of  like  passions.  It  told  me 
that  he,  as  much  as  I,  had  the  element  of  human 
weakness.  It  is  not  the  powers,  but  the  difficulties, 
of  the  great  that  inspire  us.  I  get  my  wings  from 
their  night — not  from  their  sunshine.  I  make 
their  clouds  my  chariot.  I  rise  upon  the  step  on 
which  they  fall.  It  is  not  the  footprints  they  have 
left  on  the  sands  of  time  that  impel  me  to  follow ; 
it  is  the  spots  where  the  footprints  fail.  Jacob 
may  be  a  prince  that  has  power  with  God ;  but  he 
only  becomes  my  example  when  he  halts  upon  his 
thigh. 

I  thank  Thee,  O  Lord,  that  Thou  hast  revealed 
in  the  life  of  each  saint  one  dark  hour.  I  used  to 
wonder.  It  seemed  a  strange  thing  that  the 
temple  of  a  holy  life  should  have  one  gate  not 
beautiful.      I   do  not  wonder  now ;  I  adore  the 

162 


Blemishes  in   the   Great 

wisdom  that  has  made  it  so.  I  bless  Thee,  my 
Father,  for  the  saint's  broken  gate  ;  it  will  be  the 
only  gate  of  entrance  for  me.  How  can  I  aspire 
to  pass  into  the  temple  by  his  gate  of  glory !  I 
dare  not  mount  with  Elijah  in  his  chariot  of  fire — 
I  should  grow  giddy  with  the  height ;  but  he  had 
an  hour  of  despondency  when  he  cried  like  a  child ; 
I  will  meet  him  there  !  I  dare  not  climb  with 
Moses  to  the  summit  of  Pisgah — I  am  not  fit  to  see 
the  Promised  Land ;  but  he  had  an  hour  of 
temper  when  he  showed  the  common  clay  ;  I  will 
meet  him  there  !  I  dare  not  seek  with  Abraham 
the  top  of  Moriah's  hill — I  am  not  yet  ripe  for  the 
sacrifice ;  but  he  had  an  hour  of  trembling  when 
he  chose  the  coward's  part ;  I  will  meet  him  there  ! 
I  dare  not  fly  with  John  to  the  visions  of  Patmos 
— mine  eyes  would  be  blinded  with  the  glow  ;  but 
he  had  an  hour  at  Samaria  when  he  forgot  the 
vision  of  his  Lord  ;  I  will  meet  him  there  !  I  will 
take  wing  from  their  weakness  ;  I  will  get  robed 
from  their  rags ;  I  will  rise  from  the  spot  where 
they  wrestle ;  in  the  place  where  they  flagged  I 
shall  be  constrained  to  fly.  I  thank  Thee,  O  Lord, 
for  Daniel's  impotent  hour. 


163  L  2 


THE    CHRISTIAN    VICTORY    OVER 
SORROW 

"  He  saith  to  the  sick  of  the  palsy,  Arise,  take  up  thy  bed, 
and  go  into  thine  house."— Mark  ii.   id,   ii. 

This  man  was  made  to  reverse  his  relation  to 
his  former  cross.  He  had  been  a  paralytic.  He 
had  been  brought  to  Jesus  on  a  bed.  His  bed  was 
his  cross,  and  his  cross  had  borne  him  down.  But 
when  he  had  met  Jesus,  instead  of  the  bed  taking 
up  him,  he  took  up  the  bed  !  His  earliest  strength 
was  manifested  in  the  lifting  of  that  which  had 
once  weighed  him  down  !  One  would  have  thought 
that  a  man  who  had  just  got  rid  of  his  cross  would 
have  run  from  his  cross,  would  have  left  it  on  the 
highway  and  fled.  Not  so  this  cured  paralytic. 
He  embraces  the  emblem  of  his  former  pain — he 
carries  his  bed !  So  will  it  ever  be  with  the 
Christian.  He  will  not  scorn  the  calamity  from 
which  he  has  been  emancipated.  He  will  not 
deem  that  his  calamity  was  a  loss  of  time.  He 
will  say,  *'  I  have  got  rid  of  it  to-day  because  it  is 
no  longer  my  portion  for  to-day ;  but  I  still  believe 
164 


The   Christian   Victory   Over   Sorrow 

it  was  my  portion  for  yesterday."  And  because 
he  feels  that  the  cross  was  good  for  his  yesterday, 
he  will  take  it  up  tenderly  after  his  cure.  He  will 
bear  it  into  his  house  and  keep  it  there — keep  it  as 
a  memory.  That  is  the  difference  between  Christ 
and  other  masters.  They,  as  well  as  He,  profess 
to  lift  you  from  your  bed ;  but  they  consign  the 
bed  itself  to  oblivion.  Theirs  is  the  gospel  of 
extrication ;  it  offers  to  cast  your  cross  into  the 
sea.  But  His  is  the  gospel  of  vindication ;  it 
defends  your  cross  in  the  very  act  of  removing 
it.  It  bids  you  take  up  the  bed  on  which  you  were 
lying.  It  tells  you  to  carry  it  home,  to  make  it  a 
part  of  your  furniture,  to  claim  it  as  an  item  of 
your  household  riches.  To  triumph  n  Christ  is 
not  simply  the  abolition  of  pain  but  the  transforma- 
tion of  pain — not  merely  the  death  of  sorrow  but 
the  turning  of  sorrow  into  joy.  Others  may  promise 
instead  of  a  cross  a  crown  ;  with  Him  the  cross  is 
made  the  crown.  Others  may  promise  to  transport 
you  from  a  valley  into  a  mountain  ;  with  Him  it  is 
the  valley  itself  that  has  to  be  exalted.  Others 
may  promise  to  remove  all  obstacles  from  your 
path  ;  with  Him  it  is  the  crooked  things  them- 
selves that  are  to  be  made  straight  and  the  rough 
places  themselves  that  are  to  become  plain. 
Others  may  say,  "  Arise,  and  forget  thy  bed ; " 
165 


Thoughts  for  Life's  Journey 

with  Him  the  mandate  is,  **  Arise,  take  up  thy  bed 
and  walk." 

Lord,  I  have  heardmen  say, "  Go,  bury  thy  sorrow." 
Yet  methinks  the  peace  which  Thou  givest  is  deeper 
than  that.  I  could  bury  my  sorrow  without  Thee. 
I  could  bury  it  in  the  wine-cup.  I  could  bury  it  in 
the  excitement  of  a  cause.  I  could  bury  it  in  a 
withered  heart.  I  could  bury  it  in  a  winter  of  old- 
age  whose  snows  benumbed  the  sense.  The  world 
could  give  my  sorrow  decent  burial  if  that  were  all 
I  needed.  But  that  is  not  all  I  need.  It  is  not 
forgetfulness  of  my  cross  that  I  most  require  ;  it  is 
glorified  remembrance.  I  want  my  cross  not  to  be 
buried,  but  to  be  lifted  up — raised  into  the  sunlight. 
The  world  cannot  do  that  for  me,  O  Lord.  It  can 
say,  "  Bury  thy  sorrow,"  but  not,  "  Take  up  thy 
bed."  Thou  canst  say,  "  Take  up  thy  bed."  Thou 
canst  show  me  not  merely  the  burial  of  my  cross, 
but  its  resurrection  into  newness  of  life.  Thou 
canst  transform  my  thorn  into  a  flower.  And  I 
want  my  thorn  transformed  into  a  flower.  Job  has 
got  the  sunshine  after  the  rain ;  but  has  the  rain 
been  all  waste  !  Job  wants  to  know,  and  I  want 
to  know,  if  the  shower  had  nothing  to  do  with  the 
shining.  And  Thou  canst  tell  me  —  Thy  cross 
can  tell  me.  Olivet  is  not  the  death  of  Calvary ; 
it  is  Calvary  in  bloom.  Thou  hast  not  buried  Thy 
i66 


The   Christian   Victory   Over   Sorrow 

sorrow  ;  Thou  hast  crowned  Thy  sorrow.  Be  this 
my  crown,  O  Lord  !  The  world  can  dry  my  tears, 
the  world  can  drown  my  cares  ;  but  I  only  triumph 
in  Thee  when  I  have  learned  the  radiance  of  the 
rain. 


167 


RELIGIOUS   JOY 

••Bear  no  burden  on  the  sabbath  day." — Jer.  xvii.  21. 

Did  you  ever  ask  yourself  why  the  Jew  forbade 
work  on  Sunday  ?  It  is  commonly  thought  that 
the  prohibition  originated  in  his  gloomy  views  of 
religion — in  his  tendency  to  regard  worship  as  a 
penance.  I  believe  the  motive  was  just  the 
opposite.  I  think  the  design  of  the  command 
was  to  associate  the  Sabbath  with  brightness. 
Wherefore  is  it  said,  "  Bear  no  burden  on  the 
Sabbath  day  "  ?  Is  it  meant  to  suggest  a  priva- 
tion ?  No,  it  is  intended  to  convey  a  privilege — 
the  sense  of  a  holiday.  The  Jew  associated  his 
Sabbath  with  the  absence  of  a  burden.  He 
associated  it  with  leisure  of  mind  and  freedom  of 
body.  He  linked  it  with  the  idea  of  pleasure,  he 
bound  it  to  the  heart  with  a  thread  of  gold.  It  is 
as  if  he  had  said :  "  Let  your  Sabbath  be  a 
happy  day,  a  burdenless  day,  a  flowery  day.  Let 
it  be  a  day  when  you  will  have  a  sense  of  release 
from  toil,  of  freedom  from  worry,  of  emancipation 
from  care.  Let  it  be  a  day  from  which  gloom 
168 


Religious  Joy 

shall  vanish,  in  which  joy  shall  reign.  Let  it  be  a 
day  for  the  birds  to  sing,  for  the  brooks  to  warble, 
for  the  sunbeams  to  play.  Let  men  think  of  God's 
presence  as  an  hour  of  revelry,  as  an  abandoning 
of  care,  as  a  release  from  the  trammels  of  the 
school.  Let  them  receive  God's  Kingdom  as  a 
little  child  receives  its  toy." 

Forbid,  O  Father,  that  I  should  ever  associate 
Thy  service  with  a  burden  !  I  shall  never  serve 
Thee  well  till  the  burden  is  fallen  from  me,  till  it 
is  buried  in  the  sea.  As  long  as  Martha  is  cum- 
bered, she  works  badly.  My  soul  is  unlike  a 
steamship  ;  it  only  goes  rapidly  when  it  is  without 
effort.  I  am  never  quite  active  till  I  am  passive — 
unresisting  in  Thy  hand.  If  I  am  to  serve  Thee, 
I  must  be  captivated  by  Thee.  Take  my  heart 
captive,  O  Lord,  and  it  will  be  free.  I  speak  of 
my  Sunday  duties,  of  my  religious  responsibilities. 
These  are  not  the  words  of  love,  of  the  captivated 
heart.  Shall  the  lark  meditate  on  the  duty  of  its 
morning  song  !  Shall  the  child  say,  "  My  father 
will  be  angry  if  I  do  not  ask  him  for  a  holiday  "  ! 
It  is  not  the  sense  of  ditty  I  would  cultivate  ;  it  is 
the  sense  of  privilege.  Why  should  my  heart  be 
the  only  creature  which  does  not  sing  in  its 
element !  Thou  art  its  element,  O  God ;  why 
does  it  not  sing  in  Thee !  The  lark's  element  is 
169 


Thoughts  for  Life's  Journey 

the  morning,  and  it  trills  in  the  morning. 
The  nightingale's  element  is  the  shadow,  and 
it  sings  in  the  shadow.  The  fish's  element 
is  the  sea,  and  it  leaps  in  the  sea.  The  ox's 
element  is  the  meadow,  and  it  browses  in  the 
meadow.  But  I  never  leap  before  the  Beautiful 
Gate  of  my  temple,  O  Lord  ;  I  seek  the  dirge 
instead  of  the  dance,  the  silence  instead  of  the 
song.  When  shall  I  be  caught  up  to  meet  Thee 
in  the  air  ?  When  shall  I  repair  to  Thee  as  the 
hart  repairs  to  the  water-brooks  ?  When  shall  I 
seek  Thy  tabernacles  as  the  swallow  seeks  her  nest  ? 
When  duty  shall  be  merged  in  love,  when  law 
shall  melt  in  privilege,  when  service  shall  find  that 
it  is  free.  Jheyi  shall  the  burden  fall  from  the 
Sabbath  day. 


170 


THE    WAY    TO    THE  ALTAR 

•'  Build  thou  the  walls  of  Jerusalem !  Then  shall  they  offer 
bullocks  upon  thine  altar." — Psalm  li.  i8,   19. 

It  is  when  the  Jerusalem  of  the  heart  is  built 
up  that  the  heart  offers  its  best  sacrifice.  We  are 
all  in  a  delusion  about  this  matter.  We  tend  to 
think  that  the  hour  of  sacrifice  is  the  hour  of 
depression — that  we  give  most  when  we  are  most 
wretched.  The  psalmists  of  Israel — the  most 
devotional  set  of  men  that  ever  lived — are  of  a 
different  opinion.  Listen  to  the  writer  of  the 
forty-third  Psalm:  *' O  send  forth  Thy  light! 
then  shall  I  go  unto  the  altar."  The  world  would 
have  said,  "  Send  me  Thy  cloud ;  let  it  bring  me 
to  Thine  altar  of  sacrifice !  "  But  Israel's  singer 
knows  better.  He  feels  that  the  heart  is  most 
ready  to  outpour  itself  when  it  is  basking  in  the 
sun,  that  it  is  most  generous  where  its  atmosphere 
is  most  genial.  And  indeed  our  deepest  experience 
will  cry,  "Amen!"  When  do  you  bring  your 
most  precious  gifts  to  the  altar  ?  It  is  when  there 
is  sunshine  in  your  soul.  I  do  not  say  it  is  when 
171 


Thoughts  for  Life's  Journey 

there  is  sunshine  before  your  eyes;  the  Cross  of 
Calvary  would  prevent  me  from  saying  that.  But 
if  you  want  to  offer  a  perfect  sacrifice,  you  must 
have  sunshine  in  your  soul,  Jesus  had  ;  He  spoke 
of  His  peace,  of  His  joy.  The  writer  to  the 
Hebrews  says  that  He  endured  the  cross  and 
despised  the  shame  "  for  the  joy  that  was  set 
before  Him."  The  despairing  heart  is  never  the 
sacrificial  heart.  When  the  windows  of  your  own 
spirit  are  darkened,  you  cannot  look  out.  You 
hear  not  the  cry  of  distress  in  the  street ;  you  see 
not  the  squalor  in  the  lane.  You  do  not  seek  out 
cases  of  need.  You  give  your  subscription  when 
you  are  asked  for  it,  but  you  give  it  mechanically — 
because  to  refuse  costs  effort.  The  coin  in  the 
hand  of  care  is  thrown  down  carelessly.  Depres- 
sion cannot  work  either  for  self  or  others.  It 
wants  to  He  still,  to  be  undisturbed.  It  evades  a 
duty ;  it  postpones  a  visit ;  it  defers  a  letter ;  it 
delays  an  engagement ;  it  declines  an  invitation  ; 
it  resists  whatever  would  force  it  to  open  the 
window.  My  sacrifice  is  born  of  my  hope.  It  is 
when  sitting  by  my  own  fire  that  I  feel  my 
brother's  cold.  If  you  would  bring  Jerusalem  to 
the  altar,  you  must  first  rebuild  her  walls. 

Lord,  it  is  for  sacrifice  I  want  joy.     If  I  ask 
Thee   for   prosperity,   it  is   not   that   I   may  fare 
172 


The   Way  to  the   Altar 

sumptuously  every  day ;  it  is  that  others  may  fare 
sumptuously.  If  I  ask  Thee  for  light,  it  is  not 
that  I  may  bask  in  the  sun ;  it  is  that  others  may 
bask  there.  I  would  feel  my  yoke  easy  and  my 
burden  light  in  order  that  I  may  help  to  their  rest 
the  labouring  and  heavy-laden.  Send  me  not  to 
a  brother's  sick-bed  when  my  own  heart  is  sick ! 
Is  it  not  written  of  the  ministering  spirits  :  "  These 
are  they  that  come  out  of  great  tribulation  "  ? 
Bring  me  out  into  the  day  ere  in  Thy  temple  I 
serve  by  ni^^ht !  Set  my  feet  in  a  large  room  ere 
I  enter  within  the  strait  gate  of  the  sorrowful ! 
Show  me  the  unconsumed  bush  ere  I  tread  the 
desert  of  the  lonely  !  Give  me  the  grapes  of 
Eshcol  ere  I  visit  the  wards  of  the  infirmary  ! 
Deck  me  with  flowers  of  hope  ere  I  sit  by  the 
couch  in  the  hospital !  Sing  me  the  songs  of  Zion 
ere  I  meet  with  the  sigh  of  the  sufferer  !  I  would 
see  my  risen  Christ  before  I  go  into  Galilee.  I 
would  break  the  bread  before  I  climb  my  brother's 
cross.  I  would  be  led  by  the  green  pastures  and 
laid  by  the  quiet  waters  before  I  am  asked  to 
journey  in  the  shadow  of  another's  valley.  I  shall 
approach  Thine  altar  of  sacrifice  when  Thou  hast 
rebuilt  the  walls  of  Jerusalem. 


T73 


THE  ILLUMINATING  POWER  OF  THE 
SHADOW 

"  In  the  shadow  of  the  branches  thereof  shall  they  dwell." — 
EzEK.  XVII.  23. 

Why  in  "  the  shadow  "  of  the  branches  ?  Why 
not  rest  on  the  branches  themselves  ?  Would  not 
such  a  foothold  be  an  adequate  sense  of  safety  for 
a  human  soul  ?  Yes — too  much  sense  of  safety. 
It  is  not  desirable,  even  for  the  pleasures  of  life, 
that  there  should  be  no  memory  of  shadow.  How 
often  we  are  told  that  we  ought  to  realise  our 
privileges.  What  does  that  mean  ?  Simply  this, 
that  we  ought  to  look  at  the  shadows  around  us. 
To  realise  our  privileges  is  to  consider  the 
possibihty  of  another  state  of  things.  It  is  not 
every  prosperous  man  that  appreciates  his 
prosperity.  I  think,  to  appreciate  my  prosperity 
I  must  see  a  shadow.  There  is  a  phrase  often 
used  in  colloquial  language,  "  You  do  not  know 
you  are  born."  It  is  commonly  spoken  by 
struggling  people  to  those  who  are  supposed  to 
have  no  struggle.  Well,  if  there  be  any  who 
"do  not  know  they  are  born,"  they  are  of  all  men 

174 


The   Illuminating   Power   of  the   Shadow 

most  miserable.  They  are  like  guests  at  a 
splendid  banquet  who  have  no  sense  of  physical 
taste ;  they  are  like  spectators  of  a  lovely  scene 
who  have  no  sense  of  beauty.  If  you  would  teach 
me  my  light,  you  must  bring  me  under  the 
shadow.  *'  What  would  you  do  without  her  ?  "  is 
a  question  which  was  once  put  to  me  concerning 
a  very  near  relative.  It  was  the  invitation  to 
imagine  a  shadow.  And  I  think  it  was  the 
suggestion  of  that  shadow  that  first  wakened  me 
to  the  worth  of  my  possession.  I  saw  its  glory  in 
my  imaginary  gloom  ;  I  learned  its  riches  by  my 
fancied  poverty.  And  ever  shall  I  bless  the  day 
that  placed  in  my  sunshine  the  image  of  a  possible 
shade.  It  has  made  me,  not  relax — as  some  would 
think — but  intensify,  my  hold.  It  has  deepened 
my  sense  of  the  light  and  my  desire  to  keep  it 
for  ever. 

My  brother,  always  carry  the  shadow  beside  the 
glory  ! — not  to  dim  the  glory,  but  to  make  it  more 
dazzling.  Not  by  sunlight  canst  thou  test  the 
value  of  thy  gold;  thou  must  behold  it  by  the 
shades  of  evening.  At  thy  warm  fire,  remember 
that  there  are  hearths  which  are  cold !  On  thy 
downy  bed,  remember  that  many  a  Jacob  has  his 
pillow  of  stone  !  At  thine  ample  board,  remember 
that  the  beggar  Lazarus  is  still  sitting  at  the  gate ! 
175 


Thoughts   for   Life's  Journey 

In  thy  circle  of  home  affections,  remember  the 
Abrahams  to  whom  it  is  said,  "  Get  thee  out  of 
thy  country  and  from  thy  kindred  and  from  thy 
father's  house  "  !  Say  not  that  the  shadow  will 
obscure  the  shining;  it  is  the  shining  that  is 
obscured  without  the  shadow.  Thou  canst  not 
know  thy  day  but  through  thy  brother's  night ; 
thou  canst  not  hear  thy  music  but  through  thy 
brother's  silence.  Hast  thou  pondered  these 
words,  "  At  the  evening  time  there  shall  be 
light"?  When  the  joys  of  thy  life  have  become 
commonplace,  walk  in  thy  neighbour's  evening ! 
Dwell  in  fancy  under  a  sky  where  these  things  are 
absent  I  Spend  an  imaginary  hour  in  some  garden 
of  withered  roses — where  thy  flowers  of  every  day 
appear  on  no  day !  Practise  the  privation  of  the 
pleasures  thou  deemest  stale !  Figure  thyself 
without  them  for  a  single  morning  !  Fly  from  thy 
familiar  mountain  to  spend  a  moment  in  another's 
valley  !  And  his  fires  shall  cleanse  thy  gold  ;  his 
clouds  shall  brighten  thy  chain  ;  his  evening  shall 
bring  thee  light.  Pity  shall  fill  thee  with  praise  ; 
compassion  shall  teach  thee  thy  comforts  ;  sym- 
pathy shall  make  known  to  thee  thy  sunbeams. 
Thou  shalt  see  thy  rainbow  through  a  brother's 
tears  ;  in  the  vision  of  his  shadow  thou  shalt  clasp 
thy  joy. 

176 


THE    EXALTATION    OF    CHRIST'S 
SYMBOL 

••  The  powers  of  the  heavens  shall  be  shaken  ;  and  then  shall 
appear  the  sign  of  the  Son  of  Man  in  heaven." — Matt.  xxiv. 
29,  30. 

When  is  Christ's  sign  to  appear  in  heaven  ? 
Our  Lord  says  it  is  when  "  the  powers  of  the 
heavens  shall  be  shaken  " — "  Then  shall  appear 
the  sign  of  the  Son  of  Man."  I  take  Him  to 
mean  that  the  symbol  of  Christianity — the  Cross — • 
can  only  appear  when  the  forces  of  material  power 
have  ceased  to  be  objects  of  adoration.  As  long 
as  the  crushing  powers  of  matter  are  looked  upon 
with  reverence  there  is  no  place  for  the  worship  of 
the  Cross.  As  long  as  the  eye  of  man  is  riveted 
on  gigantic  masses  it  will  have  no  glance  to  spare 
for  so  unobtrusive  a  thing  as  the  strength  of  self- 
denial.  The  Cross  may  be  on  earth,  but  it  will 
not  appear  in  heaven — will  not  be  viewed  as  one 
of  the  sublime  things.  But  when  in  the  mind  of 
the  beholder  the  powers  of  the  heavens  shall  be 

177  M 


Thoughts  for   Life's  Journey 

shaken,  when  the  spectacle  of  crushing  strength 
shall  lose  its  glory,  and  the  mere  height  of  stature 
shall  cease  to  be  necessarily  sublime,  then  for  the 
first  time  will  be  seen  the  glory  of  the  Son  of  Man 
— the  glory  of  stooping,  the  glory  of  sacrifice,  the 
glory  of  self-forgetting  love.  The  shaking  need 
not  be  an  outward  one.  It  is  in  human  estimation 
that  the  sun  shall  be  darkened  and  the  stars  shall 
fall.  The  transition  wanted  is  a  mental  one — a 
change  of  opinion.  Many  an  object  which  our 
childhood  placed  in  heaven  our  manhood  locates 
on  earth;  many  a  thing  which  our  childhood 
deemed  on  earth  our  manhood  claims  for  heaven. 
One  of  these  latter  is  the  Cross  of  Christ.  It 
seems,  to-day,  a  poor  thing.  In  comparison  with 
the  might  of  battalions  and  the  force  of  artillery, 
the  still  small  voice  of  resolute  love  appears  of 
little  weight.  Tut  when  our  estimate  of  these 
forces  shall  be  shaken,  when  materialism  shall 
cease  to  rule  our  inward  sky,  then  there  shall  be 
a  change  of  government,  and  the  last  shall  be  first. 
Christ  will  be  glorified.  Calvary  will  be  magnified. 
Pity  will  be  exalted.  Mercy  will  be  crowned. 
Kindness  will  have  a  kingdom,  tenderness  a  tiara, 
sympathy  a  sceptre,  love  a  laudation — in  the  day 
when  in  the  heart  the  powers  of  the  heavens  shall 
be  shaken. 

178 


The   Exaltation    of  Christ's   Symbol 

Hasten,  O  Lord,  that  bright  and  happy  morn  ! 
I  have  been  seeking  in  the  heavens  a  purely 
physical  glory.  I  have  been  saying,  "  When  I 
consider  the  heavens,  what  is  man  !  "  I  have  seen 
in  the  sky  other  signs  than  the  Cross.  I  have  seen 
Mars — the  symbol  of  war,  Mercury — the  symbol 
of  speed,  Venus — the  symbol  of  physical  beauty, 
Jupiter — the  symbol  of  the  lightning,  Neptune — 
the  symbol  of  the  fathomless  sea.  I  have 
christened  no  star  by  the  name  of  the  Cross. 
Why  ?  Because  I  have  thought  the  Cross  unfit 
for  heaven.  I  have  heard  no  voice  say  of  the 
sacrificial  soul,  "I  go  to  the  heavenly  mansions  to 
prepare  a  place  for  thee."  I  have  figured  war  in 
heaven,  I  have  figured  beauty  in  heaven,  I  have 
figured  wings  of  speed  in  heaven,  I  have  figured 
fathomless  depths  in  heaven,  I  have  figured 
lightning  flashes  of  truth  in  heaven ;  but  I  have 
thought  sacrifice  a  sign  of  earthly  weakness. 
Reverse  the  judgment  of  my  heart,  O  Lord ! 
Show  me  the  strength  of  the  Lamb  !  Teach  me 
the  power  of  love  !  Reveal  to  me  the  heroism  of 
sacrifice  !  Inspire  me  with  the  greatness  of  being 
gentle !  Tell  me  the  treasures  of  the  unselfish 
soul !  Put  a  crown  upon  the  head  of  the  crucified  ! 
Proclaim  to  me  that  the  Christ  in  the  manger  is 
worthy  of  a  star  !  Then  shall  I  believe  that 
179  M  2 


Thoughts   for   Life's  Journey 

heaven  itself  holds  Thy  Cross  Then  to  me  shall 
the  world  of  spirits  be  a  world  of  ministration. 
When  I  have  magnified  the  work  of  humanity  on 
earth,  I  shall  discern  in  the  sky  the  sign  of  the 
Son  of  Man. 


i8o 


THE    UNHOLY    PRAYER 

"They  oegan  to  pray  Him  to  depart  out  of  their  coasts." 
— Mark  v.   17. 

I  THINK  this  the  most  unique  specimen  of  prayer 
which  is  to  be  found  in  the  Bible — perhaps  the  most 
unique  specimen  which  is  to  be  found  anywhere. 
We  are  famihar  with  the  prayerless  lives  of  the 
ungodly.  We  are  familiar  with  the  prayerful 
lives  of  the  holy.  But  that  prayer  should  be  a 
weapon  of  the  unholy — this  is  a  startling  thing. 
Imagine  a  congregation  assembled  in  their  place 
of  worship.  Imagine  that  in  solemn  silence  every 
knee  is  bent  and  every  head  bowed  in  reverent 
expectation  of  the  preacher's  orison.  Imagine 
that  through  the  great  stillness  the  voice  that 
came  was  this :  "  O  Christ,  Thou  Son  of  God,  we 
come  this  day  before  Thy  Divine  Throne  to 
beseech  Thee  that  Thou  wouldst  be  absent  from 
our  meeting.  We  fear  Thy  presence  exceedingly. 
We  find  it  a  drag  upon  our  lives.  It  forces  us  to 
181 


Thoughts   for   Life's  Journey 

do  what  we  do  not  wish  to  do.  It  makes  us 
submit  to  painful  sacrifices.  We  feel  that  we 
should  be  richer  men,  more  prosperous  men, 
without  Thee.  We  should  have  more  liberty  to 
cheat  and  steal,  more  freedom  to  appropriate  what 
is  not  our  own.  In  Thine  absence  is  fulness  of 
joy  ;  in  the  withdrawal  of  Thy  right  hand  there  are 
pleasures  for  evermore;  depart  from  us,  O  Lord!  " 
What  a  dramatic  thrill  of  horror  would  run 
through  the  audience  !  It  would  be  a  far  greater 
horror  than  if  the  speaker  had  proclaimed  himself 
an  atheist.  Discords  are  always  disagreeable ; 
but  they  are  specially  so  when  they  are  made  by  a 
musical  instrument.  To  fight  against  God  by 
blasphemy  is  a  dreadful  thing  ;  but  to  fight  against 
God  by  prayer — that  seems  a  thing  almost 
inconceivable.  Yet  this  latter  is  what  was  done 
by  the  men  here  spoken  of;  they  breathed  discord 
through  a  musical  instrument.  They  came  to 
Christ  with  a  real  supplication,  a  sincere  supplica- 
tion, an  honest  supplication.  There  was  no 
hypocrisy  about  it;  there  lay  its  sting.  It 
acknowledged  Christ,  it  acknowledged  the  power 
of  Christ,  it  acknowledged  the  character  of  Christ, 
it  approached  Christ  on  the  basis  of  His  character; 
and  with  all  the  forms  of  devoutness  it  besought 
Him  to  depart. 

182 


The   Unholy   Prayer 

My  brother,  take  heed  to  that  for  which  thou 
prayest ! — there  Hes  the  difference  between  the 
pious  and  the  impious  mind.  It  is  not  thy  pray- 
ing that  makes  thee  good — not  even  thy  sincerity 
in  prayer.  It  is  not  thy  sense  of  want  that 
makes  thee  good — not  even  though  expressed  in 
abjectness.  It  is  not  thy  feehng  of  dependence  that 
makes  thee  good — not  even  thy  feehng  of  depen- 
dence on  Christ.  It  is  the  thing  for  which  thou 
prayest,  the  thing  for  which  thou  hungerest,  the 
thing  for  which  thou  dependest.  Every  man  cries 
for  his  grapes  of  Eshcol ;  the  difference  is  not  in  the 
cry,  but  in  the  grapes.  It  is  possible  for  thee  to 
ask  from  thy  God  three  manner  of  things.  Thou 
mayst  ask  thy  neighbour's  vineyard — that  is  bad. 
Thou  mayst  ask  thine  own  riches — that  is  neither 
bad  nor  good ;  it  is  secular.  Or  thou  mayst  ask 
to  be  made  unselfish — that  is  holy.  It  is  not  thy 
prayer  that  thy  Father  prizes ;  it  is  the  direction 
of  thy  prayer.  Dost  thou  deem  thy  child  a  hero 
because  he  asks  thee  for  a  holiday !  Nay,  though 
he  sought  it  sorrowing  and  with  tears.  But  if  he 
asks  thee  to  let  him  share  his  joy  with  a  brother 
or  sister,  then  thou  art  exceeding  glad,  then 
thou  sayest,  "  Thou  art  my  son  ;  this  day  have 
I  begotten  thee !  "  So  with  thy  Father.  He 
waits  till  thou  criest  for  a  crown — till  thou 
183 


Thoughts   for  Life's  Journey 

prayest  for  His  presence,  longest  for  His 
light,  sighest  for  His  song,  hungerest  for  His 
home,  faintest  for  his  footfall,  callest  for  His 
company,  tarriest  for  His  tread,  seekest  for  the 
sign  of  His  coming.  That  will  be  thy  Father's 
highest  joy. 


184 


THE    ADVANTAGE    OF    AFFLICTION 

"  Moab  hath  been  at  ease  from  his  youth,  and  he  hath 
settled  on  his  lees,  and  hath  not  been  emptied  from  vessel 
to  vessel,  neither  hath  he  gone  into  captivity  ;  therefore  his 
taste  remaineth  in  him." — Jer.  xlviii.  ii. 

This  is  an  extraordinary  passage — so  extra- 
ordinary that  if  uttered  in  social  life  it  would  be 
deemed  a  jest.  It  is  quite  a  common  thing  to 
hear  people  say,  **  I  pity  the  poor  creature !  he 
is  greatly  afflicted."  But  what  should  we  think  if 
we  heard  one  say,  '*  I  pity  the  poor  creature  !  his 
life  has  been  an  unclouded  sunshine  "  ?  That  is 
what  this  passage  says.  It  is  a  striking  statement 
for  any  man  to  make,  specially  striking  for  a  Jew. 
The  son  of  Israel  was  by  nature  a  son  of  the  morn- 
ing. He  delighted  in  prosperity;  he  rejoiced  in 
the  fruits  of  the  land.  Yet,  it  is  a  scion  of  this 
race  who  utters  the  words  before  us — who  com- 
miserates the  lot  of  one  that  has  only  seen  the 
flowers.  I  remember  some  years  ago  reading  a 
pamphlet  of  a  very  exceptional  kind,  both  in  sub- 
ject and  ability.  It  was  written  by  a  girl  who  was 
a  chronic  invalid.  It  was  addressed  to  her  fellow- 
invalids,  and  it  purported  to  be  an  appeal  for 
1B5 


Thoughts  for  Life's  Journey 

charity  towards  those  who  enjoyed  unbroken 
health — an  appeal  grounded  on  the  statement 
that  such  a  condition  involved  want.  Now,  that 
is  just  the  burden  of  Jeremiah's  present  song.  Its 
subject  is,  "  The  disadvantage  of  unbroken  pros- 
perity." He  bemoans  the  fate  of  one  who  has 
never  "gone  into  captivity."  He  bemoans  such 
a  fate  on  the  ground  that  it  gives  one  a  monotonous 
experience,  "  His  taste  remaineth  in  him."  It  is 
not  said  that  the  man  has  a  bad  taste  ;  the  whole 
stress  of  the  evil  is  laid  on  the  monotony. 
Jeremiah  says  that  want  of  suffering  produces 
want  of  sympathy,  and  that  want  of  sympathy 
is  want  of  variety.  He  feels  as  sad  in  beholding 
a  man  without  sympathy  as  in  beholding  a  man 
without  sight.  As  he  laments  in  the  one  the 
absence  of  light,  so  he  laments  in  the  other 
the  absence  of  shade.  For  the  man  without  sight 
he  would  pray,  *'  Send  forth  Thy  sunshine  !  "  but 
for  the  man  without  sympathy  he  would  cry, 
"  Send  forth  the  shadow  of  Thy  wing  !  "  There 
is  an  eye  which  can  only  be  restored  in  the  night, 
which  needs  the  cloiid  to  make  it  clear.  It  must 
be  created  at  evening-time.  It  is  born  of  pain — 
wakened  by  the  wind,  wafted  by  the  wave,  fostered 
by  the  fire,  cradled  by  the  cross.  That  eye  is 
sympathy. 

1 86 


The   Advantage  of  Affliction 

Lord,  make  the  clouds  my  chariots  !  I  *'  fear  " 
as  I  "enter  into  the  cloud"  as  Thy  disciples  feared 
upon  the  mount.  It  seems  to  curtail  my  moun- 
tain view,  to  limit  my  prospect,  to  narrow  the 
range  of  my  vision.  My  ideal  of  glory  has  been  to 
build  a  perpetual  tabernacle  amid  the  dazzling 
light.  Teach  me  that  this  would  be  the  curtailment, 
this  the  narrowing  !  Teach  me  that  I  never  do  get 
a  mountain  view  of  humanity  till  I  have  entered 
into  the  cloud  !  I  think  I  understand  why  it  was 
that  Israel  had  a  pillar  of  cloud  by  day.  She  was 
travelling  to  meet  universal  Man,  and  she  could 
only  meet  universal  Man  under  a  cloud.  We  are 
not  united  by  the  sunshine ;  we  come  not  together 
in  the  tabernacles  on  the  hill.  It  is  Thy  cloud 
that  makes  us  one,  O  Lord !  The  rich  and  the 
poor  have  not  all  the  same  pleasures;  but  they 
have  all  the  same  pains.  By  their  pains  Thou 
hast  united  them.  Thou  hast  linked  our  brother- 
hood in  the  hunger  of  the  heart.  Our  wings  are 
silver,  but  our  chains  are  golden.  It  is  by  my 
fetters  that  I  can  fly ;  it  is  by  my  sorrows  that  I 
can  soar ;  it  is  by  my  reverses  that  I  can  run  ;  it 
is  by  my  tears  that  I  can  travel ;  it  is  by  m.y  cross 
that  I  can  climb  into  the  heart  of  humanity.  Let 
me  magnify  my  cross,  O  Lord  1 


187 


THE    EARLIEST   CHRISTIAN   WONDER 

"His  disciples  marvelled  that  He   talked  with    a  woman," 
— John  iv.  27. 

Christianity  is  the  only  faith  which  has  found 
a  place  for  woman.  India  consigned  her  to  the 
zenanas  ;  it  had  no  sphere  for  her  amid  its  castes. 
It  had  a  sphere  for  the  clergyman,  a  sphere  for 
the  military  man,  a  sphere  for  the  man  of  com- 
merce ;  but  it  never  said  to  the  woman,  "  I  go  to 
prepare  a  place  for  you."  Greece  had  no  mansion 
for  her.  Its  mansions  were  for  the  men  of  physical 
prowess ;  it  crowned  the  sons  of  battle  and  the 
heroes  of  fame.  Judah  had  no  mission  for  her.  It 
had  patriarchs  for  the  family  ;  it  had  kings  for  the 
nation ;  it  had  priests  for  the  sanctuary ;  it  had 
lawyers  for  the  forum  ;  it  had  masters  for  the 
school ;  it  had  profits  for  the  individual  soul.  But 
it  had  no  province  for  the  woman.  It  is  no  wonder 
that  the  disciples  marvelled  at  Christianity.  It  is 
the  earliest  marvel  at  Christianity  ever  recorded. 
The  little  band  of  Christ's  followers  had  seen  the 
wonders  of  Jordan,  the  wonders  of  Cana,  the 
188 


The   Earliest   Christian   Wonder 

wonders  of  the  cleansed  temple  ;  but  I  do  not  read 
that  they  marvelled.  They  expected  great  things  of 
Christ.  But  they  did  not  expect  small  things  of 
Christ ;  and  here  they  found  what  seemed  a  small 
thing.  Their  wonder  was  at  the  Christ  stooping. 
They  saw  the  new  religion  do  what  no  old  religion 
had  ever  done — reveal  itself  to  those  deemed  the 
weak  ones  of  creation.  Woman  was  the  creature 
of  emotion,  and  all  emotion  was  held  weak.  Desire 
was  esteemed  a  thing  to  be  crucified  before 
approaching  God.  The  Brahman  crucified  it  by 
sacrifice ;  the  Buddhist  crucified  it  by  will ;  the 
Greek  crucified  it  by  stoicism ;  the  Jew  crucified 
it  by  the  exclusive  contemplation  of  law.  But  the 
woman  cried  out  for  a  response  to  her  love.  It  was 
a  voice  crying  in  the  wilderness — crying  alone. 
The  world  laughed  and  jeered — but  the  voice  cried 
still.  A  hundred  altars  proclaimed,  **  Ye  who 
worship,  extinguish  your  desires  !  "  —  but  the 
voice  cried  still.  Derision  could  not  drown  it; 
contempt  could  not  conquer  it ;  solitude  could  not 
silence  it  —  it  filled  the  air  with  its  plaints  for 
replenishment.  And  then  Christ  came.  He  met 
Woman  at  the  well.  She  had  wandered  thither 
through  many  lands.  She  had  thirsted  by  the 
Ganges,  she  had  been  parched  in  the  streets  of 
Athens,  she  had  panted  even  on  the  banks  of 
189 


Thoughts   for   Life's  Journey 

Jordan ;  but   she   was   refreshed   at    last    beside 
Samaria's  well. 

Lord,  Thy  disciples  will  no  more  marvel  at  this 
unique  communion.  We  have  learned  now  that 
it  was  the  thing  religion  waited  for.  We  all 
despised  feeling ;  we  thought  that  the  worshipper 
should  empty  his  heart  before  offering  it  to  Thee. 
And  so  we  crushed  out  emotion  and  the  woman- 
hood that  represented  it.  We  put  our  sister  in 
the  zenanas  ;  we  treated  her  as  a  fallen  thing.  She 
had  too  much  of  the  human  and  we  wanted  our 
religion  to  "get  rid"  of  hum:'nity.  But  in  the 
fulness  of  time  Thou  camest — with  a  human  soul 
thirsting  for  human  love.  Thou  camest,  and  we 
heard  the  cry,  "Give  Me  to  drink!"  Could  an 
impoverished  heart  answer  that  cry  ?  Could  a 
heart  that  had  emptied  out  its  feeling  respond  to 
Thy  prayer  for  human  love  ?  No ;  only  the 
feminine  nature  which  we  had  crucified  could 
do  that.  We  had  to  fall  back  upon  our  lost  spirit 
of  womanhood.  We  had  to  open  the  zenanas  and  set 
our  sister  free.  Nay,  we  had  to  make  the  sister 
our  type  for  evermore.  It  is  always  a  woman's 
heart  that  must  now  meet  Thee  at  the  well.  No 
more  with  mutilated  bodies  do  we  come ;  we  leave 
that  to  India.  No  more  with  suppressed  feelings 
draw  we  near  ;  we  leave  that  to  Greece.  No  more 
I  go 


The   Earliest   Christian    Wonder 

with  religious  fasting  do  we  approach ;  we  leave 
that  to  Judah.  We  bring  Thee  all  our  beauty. 
We  give  Thee  all  our  gold.  We  send  Thee  all 
our  sunshine.  We  bring  our  pain  to  Thy  passion, 
our  rapture  to  Thy  rising,  our  transport  to  Thy 
triumph.  We  trim  our  lamps  to  meet  Thee  ;  we 
strew  our  flowers  to  greet  Thee  ;  we  tune  our 
voices  to  entreat  Thee.  It  is  with  the  gush 
of  a  woman's  soul  we  salute  Thee  at  the  well. 


191 


A    NEW    ORDER    OF    NOBILITY 

"Behold,  what  manner  of  love  the  Father  hath  bestowed 
upon  us,  that  we  should  be  called  the  sons  of  God."— 
I  John  hi.  i. 

A  PARAPHRASE  familiar  to  Scottish  Churches  has 
thus  rendered  this  passage : — 

*'  Behold  the  amazing  gift  of  love 
The  Father  hath  bestowed 
On  us,  the  sinful  sons  of  men, 
To  call  us  sons  of  God !  " 

Of  course,  the  sentiment  is  quite  true  ;  but  I  do 
not  think  it  is  the  sentiment  of  this  verse.  I  think 
the  amazing  feature  in  the  eye  of  the  apostle  is  not 
the  recognition  of  sinful  beings,  but  the  recognition 
of  beings  with  a  particular  kind  of  virtue.  I  under- 
stand him  to  mean  :  "  What  an  amazing  thing  it 
is  that  we,  of  all  men,  should  be  called  sons  of 
God  —  we  Christians,  whose  qualities  are  the 
unobtrusive  ones  of  patience,  of  meekness,  of 
humility,  of  peacemaking  !  "  And  there  was 
ground  for  such  wonder.  The  name  "  sons  of 
God "  used  to  be  applied  very  differently.  It 
was    applied    to    the    stars,    because    they    werq 


A   New   Order  of  Nobility 

brilliant  and  set  far  above  the  trammels  of  earth. 
It  was  applied  to  forms  of  gigantic  strength, 
because  it  was  deemed  greater  to  be  a  giant 
than  to  be  a  genius.  It  was  applied  to  the 
winners  of  battles  and  the  conquerors  of  king- 
doms, because  the  highest  victories  of  man  were 
thought  to  lie  in  the  physical.  But  nobody 
dreamed  of  applying  the  name  to  unrepining 
invalids,  to  silent  burden-bearers,  to  patient 
sufferers,  to  uncomplaining  victims  of  sacrifice, 
to  those  who  refrained  from  reviling  and  those 
who  worked  without  reward.  It  was  reserved 
for  Christ  to  do  that.  And  John  says  this 
reveals  a  new  manner  of  Divine  love.  It  was 
thought  of  old  that  the  interest  of  heaven  was 
centred  on  earth's  mountains — on  her  places  pro- 
minent to  the  eye.  I  looked  at  the  stars  and  said, 
"  What  is  man  !  " — I  looked  at  ordinary  men  and 
said,  *'  What  are  these  to  the  making  of  history ; 
surely  God's  providence  marks  not  such  humble 
lives ! "  But  Christ  takes  me  to  a  child  in  the 
nursery  and  says,  "  That  is  the  making  of  history ; 
on  the  moulding  of  that  depends  the  fate  of 
nations  !  "  God's  eye  is  not  on  the  mountains, 
but  on  the  valleys.  It  is  the  silent  virtues  that 
make  the  kingdom.  Our  Father  seeth  in  secret 
because  the  great  things  are  in  secret.  The  objects 
193  N 


Thoughts   for  Life's  Journey 

of  God's  interest  are  below  the  sea.  His  heroes 
are  beneath  the  cloud.  His  mighty  ones  are  mov- 
ing noiselessly.  His  great  events  are  happening 
underground;  His  armies  are  unseen. 

My  Father,  I  should  like  to  read  Thy  book  of 
life.  Thou  art  now  writing  Thy  book  of  life — 
Thy  record  of  human  history.  When  it  appears, 
it  will  be  the  final  judgment — the  ultimate  verdict 
on  men  and  things.  It  will  reverse  all  previous 
verdicts ;  many  of  the  actors  whom  we  put  first 
shall  be  last  and  many  whom  we  put  last  shall  be 
first.  The  heroes  of  Thy  history  will  be  those 
never  heard  of  before.  They  will  not  be  the 
Alexanders,  the  Caesars,  the  Napoleons.  They 
will  be  some  of  their  unknown  ancestors  who 
toiled  without  groaning,  spun  without  tiring,  bore 
without  sinking,  endured  without  dying,  and 
handed  down  to  posterity  their  soldier-like  yet 
unseen  courage.  When  Thy  book  is  opened  I 
shall  learn  a  strange  story.  I  shall  read  a  new 
list  of  the  great.  No  more  shall  kings  appear  in 
the  van,  no  more  shall  warriors  stand  in  the  front. 
It  will  be  the  streams,  not  the  rivers,  that  will  be 
found  to  have  made  glad  Thy  city.  It  will  be  the 
good  mother  in  the  nursery,  the  frugal  father  at 
the  plough,  the  serving  sister  in  the  home,  the 
heroic  sufferer  on  the  bed,  the  earnest  teacher  in 
194 


A   New  Order  of  Nobility 

the  school,  the  interested  master  in  the  office,  the 
prudent  companion  at  the  board,  the  sympathising 
comforter  in  the  sorrow.  It  will  be  Moses  not  on 
Sinai  but  in  the  desert,  Elijah  not  on  Carmel  but 
in  the  cave,  Abraham  not  in  Egypt  but  on  Moriah, 
John  not  at  Jerusalem  but  in  Patmos,  Paul  not  in 
his  strength  but  in  his  blindness.  I  shall  learn  in 
the  book  of  Thy  remembrance  that  it  is  our 
moments  of  obscurity  that  have  made  us  "  sons 
of  God." 


195  N2 


THE    SPIRITUAL    USE     OF    WORLDLY 
EXPERIENCE 

"Jesus,  walking  by  the  sea  of  Galilee,  saw  Simon  called 
Peter,  and  Andrew  his  brother,  casting  a  net  into  the  sea: 
for  they  were  fishers.  And  He  saith  unto  them,  Follow 
me." — Matt.   iv.   i8,  19. 

This  is  not  the  first  call  to  Peter  and  Andrew. 
They  had  been  already  called  to  conversion ;  they 
are  now  called  to  the  ministry.  Why  did  not 
Jesus  elect  them  to  the  ministry  at  once?  He 
had  made  them  His  disciples  when  very  young 
men  in  the  wilderness  of  Judaea.  Would  not  this 
have  been  the  time  to  ordain  them — to  give  them 
a  premonition  of  their  coming  glory?  Why  allow 
the  scene  of  rapture  to  fade  into  the  light  of  com- 
mon day  ?  These  young  men  had  at  first  been 
caught  up  to  meet  their  Lord  in  the  air.  They 
had  been  raised  to  a  height  of  exaltation  ;  they 
had  gazed  upon  the  beatific  vision  ;  they  had  seen 
the  face  of  the  only-begotten  Son  of  God.  Why 
bring  them  down  again  into  the  coarse  life  of  the 
world  ?  It  would  have  seemed  all  right  if  the 
world  had  been  the  destined  sphere  of  their 
196 


The   Spiritual   Use   of  Worldly  Experience 

religious  life.    But  it  was  not.    They  were  intended 

to  be  preachers,  to  stand  upon   the  mount  and 

bless  the  people.     Why,  then,  not  Hft  them  to  the 

mount  in  a  moment  ?     Why  permit  them  to  go 

back  from  the  solemn  wilderness  into  the  routine 

of  secular  work — into  the  sphere  of  the  boat-hirer 

and  the  net-mender  and  the  fish-catcher  ?     Was 

not  the  stage  between  the  first  and  the  second  call 

a  waste  of  time  ?     No,  my  brother,  God's  work  is 

never  arrested  even  where  it  seems  to  be.     Do 

you  think  it  was  an  accident  that  after  their  lofty 

flight  in  the  wilderness  Peter  and  Andrew  were 

sent  down  to  the  sea  to  be  fishermen  ?     I  tell  you 

it  was  a  part  of  the  coming  call.     God  does  not 

want  His  preachers  to  be  untaught  in  the  present 

world.      He  wants  them  to  know  something  of 

human  need   and   human  toil.     The   fisherman's 

life  was  such  a  knowledge ;  it  was  the  satisfaction 

of  the  cry  for  bread.     If  the  redemption  of  the  soul 

did  not  include  the  resurrection  of  the  body,  our 

preachers  could  be  trained  in  the  wilderness.     But 

it  does.     Therefore  in  the  training  of  the  preacher, 

yea,  in  the  training   of  the  Christian,  God  has 

ordained    a  drop    from   the  primitive   height   ot 

exaltation,  a  drop  into  the  sea  of  human  trouble 

— into   the   knowledge   of   human    need,   human 

want,  human  toil,  human  care,  human  doubt  and 

197 


Thoughts   for  Life's  Journey 

perplexity ;   the  first  flight  into  the  air  must  be 
followed  by  a  plunge  into  the  sea. 

Lord,  there  have  been  few  moments  that  have 
so  much  disappointed  me  as  my  first  religious 
moments.  I  can  remember  how  on  some  golden 
morning  I  saw  the  heavens  opened  and  heard  the 
angels  sing.  I  stood  upon  the  mount  and  looked 
down,  and  the  things  below  seemed  as  grass- 
hoppers. Earth  faded  into  nothingness  before 
me,  and  I  wondered  it  was  a  matter  of  human 
care.  I  proposed,  like  Thy  disciples,  to  build  my 
tabernacle  on  high — above  the  sound  of  the  waves, 
above  the  friction  of  the  crowd.  Suddenly,  a 
cloud  came  and  the  glory  vanished.  I  was  swept 
down  the  hill  by  an  earthly  blast — down  to  the 
conflict  with  the  storm,  down  to  the  waves  of  the 
sea.  And  I  cried,  "  To  what  purpose  is  this  waste ; 
why  bring  me  from  the  calm  sky  to  the  rough 
ocean  ? "  But  now,  O  Lord,  I  have  received 
Thine  answer.  It  is  because  Thou  desirest  the 
bridal  of  the  sea  and  sky.  Thou  wouldst  not 
send  me  on  an  earthly  mission  with  an  un- 
earthly heart.  Thou  wouldst  not  send  me  to 
Galilee  without  tasting  toil,  to  Samaria  without 
sympathy  for  the  slighted.  Thou  wouldst  not 
send  me  to  quell  temptations  I  had  never  known. 
Could  I  dare  to  rebuke  a  brother's  passion  if  my 


The   Spiritual   Use   of  Worldly  Experience 

own  heart  were  passionless !  Could  I  dare  to 
reprove  a  sister's  temper  if  my  own  soul  were 
frigid  !  Could  I  blame  without  knowing  the  blast ! 
Could  I  condemn  without  feeling  the  conflict ! 
Could  I  judge  the  sinner  without  the  sense  of  his 
struggle  !  I  thank  Thee,  O  Lord,  that  Thou  didst 
not  send  me  on  my  mission  in  my  first  enraptured 
moment.  I  thank  Thee  that  I  was  brought  down 
to  Jacob's  wrestling-ground.  I  thank  Thee  that 
I  entered  on  my  mission  with  a  shrunk  sinew — a 
sense  of  human  weakness.  I  can  meet  Thee  in  the 
rapture  of  an  upward  flight ;  but  I  can  only  meet 
my  brother  in  the  tossing  of  an  earthly  sea. 


199 


A    NEGLECTED     SIDE    OF    SYMPATHY 

"His     disciples     prayed     Him,     saying,     Master,     eat."— 
John  iv.  31. 

This  I  regard  as  the  type  of  a  very  peculiar 
kind  of  prayer — the  prayer  expressing  soHcitude, 
not  for  our  own  welfare,  but  for  the  welfare  of  the 
Divine  Being  whom  we  supplicate.  The  great 
mass  of  petitions  addressed  to  Jesus  in  the  gospels 
are  petitions  for  our  own  comfort — for  the  healing 
of  disease,  the  recovery  of  sick  friends,  the  pardon 
of  personal  sins,  and  the  like.  But  this  is  a  prayer 
of  the  disciples,  not  for  themselves  or  their 
belongings,  but  for  Christ !  They  are  anxious  for 
His  outward  comfort,  for  His  physical  well-being, 
for  the  supply  of  His  daily  bread.  The  only 
prayer  in  the  gospels  which  I  interpret  in  the 
same  way  is  the  request  of  the  men  on  the  road 
to  Emmaus:  "Abide  with  us,  for  it  is  toward 
evening  and  the  day  is  far  spent."  I  think,  spite 
of  the  popular  hymn  and  spite  of  the  undoubted 
truth  of  its  sentiment,  their  solicitude  was  not  for 
themselves,  but  for  Jesus.  I  think  they  wished 
200 


A   Neglected   Side   of  Sympathy 

Him  to  find  rest  after  the  burden  and  heat  of  the 
day  and  to  avoid  the  darkening  shadows  which 
presaged  the  coming  night.  Be  this  as  it  may,  in 
the  passage  before  us  there  never  could  be  a  doubt 
of  the  interpretation  ;  it  is  a  cry  to  Christ  for 
Christ:  '*  Master,  eat."  Angels  ministered  to  Him 
in  the  wilderness ;  but  men  ministered  to  Him  in 
Samaria.  The  human  ministry  took  the  form  of 
prayer — the  prayer  for  His  sustenance.  I  think 
this  prayer  must  have  been  very  dear  to  Jesus. 
Gold  is  precious  because  it  is  rare.  This  form  of 
petition  was  also  rare,  is  still  rare.  The  mines 
of  the  human  heart  have  seldom  yielded  such  a 
treasure.  Our  habitual  cry  is,  *' Provide  for  our 
human  wants,  O  Lord !  "  I  do  not  mean  that  we 
are  purely  selfish  ;  we  often  pray  for  the  satisfaction 
of  needs  not  individually  our  own.  But  it  rarely 
strikes  us  that  these  needs  are  shared  by  the 
Divine,  We  often  beseech  a  human  friend  to  take 
care  of  himself,  to  watch  his  own  interests ;  but 
we  seldom  say  to  the  Father,  '*  May  Thy  interests 
prosper,  may  Thy  desires  be  fulfilled !  "  We  forget 
that  God,  too,  has  a  want — the  craving  of  an 
infinite  love.  We  forget  that  it  is  God  who  says 
to  man,  and  not  man  who  says  to  God,  '*  Behold, 
I  stand  at  the  door  and  knock."  We  forget  that 
the  very   infinitude  of   Divine   Love  deepens  its 

20I 


Thoughts  for  Life's  Journey 

hunger.  There  is  a  need  which  can  only  be  felt  by 
the  Divine  heart.  A  smaller  heart  can  be  satisfied; 
but  the  boundless  ocean  of  the  Father's  love  has 
found  no  bay  in  which  to  rest  its  waters. 

Lord,  in  my  prayers  let  me  remember  Thee ! 
Let  me  remember  that  the  well  of  Samaria  cannot 
fill  Thy  thirst — that  the  demand  of  Thy  heart 
exceeds  its  sources  of  supply  !  I  pray  a  hundred 
times  for  the  satisfaction  of  my  desires;  have  I 
ever  breathed  a  wish  for  the  satisfaction  of  Thine  ! 
I  have  borne  in  my  memory  my  human  brothers 
who  are  waiting  round  the  well — those  whom  I 
call  the  objects  of  charity,  those  who  have  been 
denied  the  use  of  the  earthly  streams.  But  I 
have  not  realised  that  Thou,  too,  art  waiting  at 
the  well.  I  have  not  borne  in  my  memory  the 
wants  of  the  Divine.  I  have  not  carried  in  my 
sympathy  the  unsatisfied  hunger  of  my  God.  I 
have  heard  the  children's  cry  for  bread,  but  not 
the  Father's  cry  for  fellowship.  I  have  heard  the 
suppliant  knocking  at  my  door,  but  not  Thine 
entreaty  knocking  at  my  heart.  I  have  begun  to 
learn  that  what  I  call  humanitarian  sympathy 
stretches  down  to  the  beast  of  the  field,  but  it  has 
hardly  dawned  on  me  that  it  should  also  stretch 
up  to  heaven.  Send  me  the  dawn  of  that  light,  O 
Lord  !     Help  me  to  frame  golden  wishes  for  Thee  ! 

202 


A   Neglected   Side   of  Sympathy 

Make  me  glad  when  Thou  art  glorified,  sad  when 
Thou  art  stained  !  Make  me  jubilant  in  Thy  joy, 
transported  in  Thy  triumph,  proud  when  Thou 
art  praised,  blest  when  Thou  art  beautified,  happy 
when  Thou  art  heralded,  light-hearted  when  Thou 
art  loved,  cheered  when  Thou  art  cherished,  radiant 
when  Thou  hast  found  Thy  day  of  rest!  My 
heart  will  reach  its  summer  by  its  entrance  into 
Thy  joy. 


203 


THE    DUTY    OF    JOYFULNESS 

"Let  all  those  that  put  their  trust  in  Thee  rejoice;  let  them 
ever  shout  for  joy." — Ps.  v.  ii. 

These  words  were  not  so  much  a  promise  as  a 
command.  I  understand  them  to  mean,  "  It  is 
the  duty  of  behevers  not  only  to  be  happy  but  to 
reveal  their  happiness  " — not  only  to  "  rejoice  *' 
but  to  "  slioiit  for  joy."  Gladness  is  here  regarded 
not  merely  as  a  privilege,  but  as  a  duty.  The 
idea  is  that  a  mournful  religion  is  unfitted  to 
attract.  The  psalmist  wants  God  to  have  many 
votaries.  He  is  annoyed  at  the  fact  that  men 
deem  the  world  to  have  the  monopoly  of  joy.  He 
calls  upon  believers  to  counteract  that  impression. 
He  says  :  "  Ye  who  love  God,  do  not  let  the 
world  think  that  your  love  has  made  you  miser- 
able. Do  not  hide  your  roses.  Do  not  still  your 
laughter.  Do  not  abate  your  entertainments. 
Do  not  lessen  the  number  of  your  friends.  Let 
not  your  garments  be  less  gay ;  drop  not  a  note 
from  your  songs.  The  world  may  say  you  are 
inconsistent ;  but  in  truth  you  alone  will  be  con- 
204 


The   Duty   of  Joyfulness 

sistent.  In  whom  is  it  consistent  to  adorn  the 
body  ?  Is  it  in  those  who  think  it  is  to  perish  in 
a  night  ?  No  ;  gay  attire  is  only  justified  by  the 
beHef  in  resurrection.  In  whom  is  it  consistent 
to  enjoy  the  passing  hour  ?  Is  it  in  those  who 
think  it  will  never  come  back  ?  No ;  lost  joys 
should  ever  make  us  sad ;  the  half  of  every 
pleasure  is  the  hope  that  it  will  endure.  In  whom 
is  it  consistent  to  be  interested  in  trifles  ?  Is  it  in 
those  who  ignore  the  infinite  ?  No ;  interest  in 
trifles  should  belong  to  him  with  whom  trifles  are 
part  of  the  infinite.  In  whom  is  it  consistent  to 
bask  in  human  love  ?  Is  it  in  those  who  hold 
that  the  heart  is  a  bit  of  mechanism  which  is  set 
in  motion  in  the  morning  and  stopped  at  night  ? 
No ;  such  should  forbid  themselves  to  love ;  the 
heart  is  no  perfect  paradise  to  him  who  hears  the 
message,  "  Thou  shalt  surely  die."  And  the 
psalmist  is  right.  I  am  told  that  the  man  of  God 
gets  an  entrance  into  a  higher  than  earthly  joy. 
Doubtless.  But  I  do  not  see  that  even  earthly 
joy  is  consistent  with  the  absence  of  God.  It 
seems  to  me  that  the  world,  like  primeval  Adam, 
has  stolen  God's  apples  and  put  them  in  its  own 
vineyard.  The  tree  of  life  is  His  as  well  as  the 
tree  of  knowledge.  The  rivers  are  His,  and  the 
gold,  and  the  dressing  of  flowers,  and  the  walk  in 
205 


Thoughts   for   Life's  Journey 

the  cool  of  the  day.  It  is  written,  '*  Enter  ye  into 
the  joy  of  your  Lord  "  ;  but  the  joy  of  my  Lord 
includes  the  joys  of  man. 

Lord,  many  there  be  that  try  to  show  they  are 
Thy  people  by  showing  their  tears;  but  I  say 
with  Thy  psalmist,  "  Let  all  those  that  put  their 
trust  in  Thee  rejoice."  How  shall  I  tempt  the 
world  to  bathe  in  Thine  infinite  sea,  if  I  myself  am 
seen  standing  in  the  shallows  and  shivering  with 
the  cold  ?  Who  will  believe  in  the  ocean  of  Thy 
love  if  the  ships  that  sail  thereon  have  lowered 
their  flag  in  sign  of  mourning?  If  men  see  the 
inhabitants  of  Thy  heaven  arrayed  in  black  robes, 
will  they  not  justly  say,  "  These  are  they  that  to 
this  hour  are  in  great  tribulation  "  ?  Do  not  let 
them  wear  black  robes,  O  my  Father!  For  all 
that  have  come  out  from  the  far  country,  bring 
forth  the  bright  garments  !  Clothe  them  in  white, 
deck  them  in  jewels,  greet  them  with  feasting, 
surround  them  with  music  and  dancing ;  teach 
them  that,  for  a  converted  man,  it  is  good  to  make 
merry  and  be  glad !  Turn  all  eyes  that  wait  on 
Thee  to  the  rising  sun ;  may  light  be  sown  for 
the  righteous  and  joy  for  the  upright  in  heart ! 
May  Thy  beauty  make  us  buoyant ;  may  Thy 
grace  make  us  gladsome ;  may  Thy  kindness  make 
us  kinsmen  ;  may  Thy  sympathy  make  us  social ; 
206 


The   Duty   of  Joyfulness 

may  Thy  forgiveness  mcJke  us  fellows;  may  Thy 
charity  make  us  cheerful ;  may  Thy  love  make  us 
light-hearted ;  may  the  faith  in  Thy  truth  make 
us  free  from  trembling  !  Let  all  w^ho  trust  in 
Thee  unfurl  their  flag  of  rejoicing  1 


207 


THE    POWER    OF    OPTIMISM 

••God  hath  anointed  thee  with  the  oil  of  gladness  abovtt 
thy  fellows." — Ps.  xlv.  7. 

These  words,  as  the  writer  to  the  Hebrews 
affirms,  were  spoken  of  the  coming  Messiah.  Do 
they  suit  the  Messiah  who  has  actually  come  ? 
Anointed  with  the  oil  of  gladness  !  Is  He  not 
proverbially  the  man  of  sorrows  ?  Was  not  His 
anointing  on  the  banks  of  Jordan  a  call  to  pain, 
the  inauguration  of  a  sacrificial  work  foreshadowed 
in  the  words,  "  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God  "  ?  Are 
we  to  transform  our  ideal  from  a  man  of  sorrows 
into  a  man  of  joys — from  the  image  of  one  who 
was  more  marred  than  the  sons  of  men  into  the 
image  of  one  who  was  distinguished  from  the  sons 
of  men  by  his  gladness  ?  It  seems  a  wondrous 
revolution  of  sentiment.  But  is  it  ?  Is  there  a 
contradiction  between  an  optimistic  mind  and  a 
sacrificial  mind  ?  I  think  not.  I  believe  it  was 
the  optimism  of  Jesus  that  made  Him  sacrificial. 
If  you  ask  me  what  enabled  Him  to  pour  out  His 
soul  unto  death,  I  can  only  answer,  "  It  was  the 
glad  view  He  took  of  humanity."  You  will  find 
208 


The   Power  of  Optimism 

in  your  experience  that  the  optimistic  nature  is 
the  sacrificing  nature.  You  spend  yourself  for  a 
cause  in  proportion  as  you  have  a  gladdening 
prospect  of  its  success.  When  we  speak  of  Christ 
as  bearing  the  burdens  of  His  fellow  men,  we 
must  never  forget  that  it  was  because  He  was  of 
all  beings  the  most  hopeful  for  man's  glory.  He 
gave  His  life  for  the  world  because  none  had  so 
rosy  a  view  of  the  world's  possibilities.  He  was 
led  on  to  Calvary  by  the  vision  of  gladness  that 
floated  before  Him — the  vision  of  a  redeemed 
humanity.  No  one  had  sacrificed  so  much  before, 
because  no  one  had  hoped  so  much  before.  Christ 
is  the  prince  of  optimists.  *'  While  there  is  life 
there  is  hope  "  is  the  aphorism  of  the  most  san- 
guine amongst  us.  Christ  goes  beyond  that ;  He 
has  hope  even  for  the  dead.  There  have  been 
men  who  have  healed  diseases  on  the  highway ; 
there  have  been  men  even  who  have  sought  the 
living  lepers  amid  the  tombs.  But  Christ  bent 
without  despair  over  the  very  dead — over  the 
Lazaruses,  over  the  sons  of  Nain,  over  the 
daughters  of  Jairus.  That  meant  a  singularly 
glad  spirit — a  spirit  so  naturally  sunlit,  so 
habitually  joyous,  so  prone  to  the  song  of  the 
lark,  that  the  spectacle  of  lifelessness  itself  could 
not  dispel  its  morning. 

209  O 


Thoughts  for  Life's  Journey 

Lord,  if  I  am  to  do  Thy  work,  inspire  me  with 
Thine  optimism  !  I  cannot  enter  on  my  ministry 
if  I  am  impressed  with  the  utter  hopelessness  of 
the  human  soul,  with  the  utter  worthlessness  of 
the  human  body.  If  I  am  to  watch  in  the  Geth- 
semane  of  the  sick,  I  must  have  a  heart  not  too 
heavy.  I  have  read  that  Thy  disciples  in  that 
ward  were  "  sleeping  for  sorrow."  I  used  to 
wonder  at  the  expression ;  but  I  see  it  all  now. 
They  could  not  watch  with  Thee  because  they  had 
no  hope  of  Thee — they  despaired  of  Thy  cause. 
If  I  am  to  be  kept  from  sleeping  on  duty  my  eyes 
must  be  anointed  with  the  oil  of  gladness.  Anoint 
with  hope,  O  Lord,  the  eyes  of  all  that  work  for 
Thee !  Anoint  those  that  tend  the  couch  of  pain  ; 
give  them  the  vision,  not  of  death,  but  of  life ! 
Anoint  those  who  seek  to  redeem  from  sin ;  give 
them  a  vision  of  the  white-robed  throng  !  Anoint 
those  who  visit  the  homes  of  the  bereaved ;  give 
them  the  vision  of  the  things  that  cannot  die  1 
Anoint  those  that  knock  at  the  dwellings  of  the 
poor  ;  give  them  a  vision  of  the  poverty  that  made 
us  rich !  Anoint  those  who  labour  in  heathen 
lands  ;  give  them  a  vision  of  the  many  mansions  ! 
Anoint  those  who  are  teachers  of  the  young  ;  give 
them  a  vision  of  the  full-grown  man  !  Anoint 
those  who  are  personal  sufferers  ;  give  them  the 

2IO 


The   Power  of  Optimism 

vision  that  they  are  preparing  to  be  ministering 
spirits  in  the  kingdom  of  their  Father !  Not 
solemnity  but  sunshine,  not  heaviness  but  happi- 
ness, not  the  weight  of  reflection  but  the  wing  of 
rapture,  is  the  preparation  of  those  who  are  called 
to  follow  Thee. 


211  O  2 


THE    SEAT    OF    THE    WORLDLY    LIFE 

"If  any  man  love  the  world,  the  love  of  the  Father  is  not 
in  him." — i  John  ii.  15. 

To  the  mind  of  St.  John  the  darkest  shadow  of 
the  human  soul  is  worldliness.  Perhaps  each  of  us 
has  a  special  aversion  to  some  special  form  of  sin, 
Matthew,  Mark  and  Luke  emphasise  the  horror  of 
blasphemy.  Paul  lays  stress  on  the  danger  of 
unbelief.  James  is  impressed  with  the  evil  of 
idle  hands.  But  John  has  a  special  aversion  to 
worldliness.  Why  ?  I  take  the  reason  to  be  that 
he  himself  had  been  specially  bitten  by  that  form  of 
sin.  John  had  started  on  the  race  of  Hfe  under  the 
impulse  of  personal  ambition.  So  intense  had  been 
that  ambition  that  it  had  suffused  even  his  religion. 
He  had  asked  for  a  front  seat  in  the  kingdom  of 
heaven — a  seat  beside  the  Lord  where  he  would 
have  a  monopoly  of  the  Divine  Presence.  He  had 
now  come  to  see  that  this  seeming  piety  was 
extreme  worldliness.  And  why  was  it  worldliness  ? 
Because  he  was  too  fond  of  the  society  of  his  brother 
212 


The   Seat  of  the   Worldly   Life 

man  ?  Exactly  the  reverse — because  he  was  not 
fond  enough  of  that  society.  John's  error  lay  in 
forgetting  the  claims  of  his  brother  man — in  wish- 
ing to  be  alone  in  his  glory.  If  he  had  asked  that 
the  front  seat  might  be  extended  so  that  there 
might  be  room  for  everybody,  it  would  have  been 
all  right.  But  to  desire  a  monopoly  of  God,  to 
seek  an  exclusive  access  to  the  audience-chamber 
of  the  King  s  Son,  this  was  a  breach  of  brotherhood, 
and  therefore  this  was  worldliness.  And  that  is 
the  reason  why  John  says,  *'  If  any  man  love  the 
world,  the  love  of  the  Father  is  not  in  him."  He 
means  that  there  can  be  no  sense  of  fatherhood 
where  there  is  no  sense  of  brotherhood.  If  world- 
liness signified  anything  else  than  unsociability, 
there  would  be  no  meaning  in  the  statement.  If  to 
be  unworldly  means  to  be  a  hermit,  why  should  it 
indicate  the  love  of  God — why  should  it  indicate 
any  love  at  all  ?  But  if  to  be  unworldly  means  to 
be  no  hermit,  if  to  be  unworldly  means  to  be  social, 
if  to  be  unworldly  means  to  have  a  right  hand  of 
fellowship  for  our  brother  man,  I  can  understand 
why  it  prepares  for  my  love  of  God.  He  that  loves 
the  brother  whom  he  hath  seen  is  ripening  for 
devotion  to  that  common  Father  whom  as  yet  he 
hath  not  seen. 

Lord,  let  me  not  think  that  the  world  is  a  place  I 

213 


Thoughts   for   Life's  Journey 

That  would  lead  me  to  underrate  my  difficulties. 
If  the  world  were  any  particular  place,  I  could  easily 
get  rid  of  it.  If  it  were  a  theatre  or  a  ball-room  or  a 
garden-party,  I  could  soon  take  the  wings  of  a  dove 
and  flee  away  and  be  at  rest.  But  the  world  is 
none  of  these  things — the  world  is  within  me.  I 
can  carry  it  about  to  any  place,  and  the  place  to 
which  I  carry  it  immediately  becomes  worldly. 
Teach  me  this  truth,  O  Lord !  Teach  me  that, 
wherever  I  think  of  myself  alone,  that  spot  is  the 
world !  Teach  me  by  the  lesson  of  Thy  disciple  that 
I  can  make  my  thought  of  heaven  itself  a  worldly 
thought !  Remind  me  ever  that  his  most  mundane 
moment  was  his  vision  of  paradise — his  vision  of 
Thy  heaven  as  a  place  where  he  was  to  stand 
in  advance  of  all  men  !  Impress  me  with  the 
knowledge  that  I  am  not  to  be  driven  out  of  the 
world,  but  that  I  am  to  drive  the  world  out  of 
me  I  Help  me  to  expel  it  from  my  own  heart ! 
Reveal  to  me  that  to  find  Thy  rest  I  need  no 
wings  of  a  dove,  no  flight  from  the  common 
haunts  of  men  !  Crucify  the  image  of  my  own 
soul,  and  I  shall  hear  Thy  voice  saying,  "  Go 
where  thou  wilt."  Drive  out  the  selfish  man  from 
the  garden  of  my  heart,  and  there  will  be  no  need 
to  remove  me  from  the  tree.  Create  a  clean  spirit 
within  me,  and  I  shall  not  fear  to  live  in  unclean 
214 


The   Seat   of  the   Worldly  Life 

streets.  Bathe  myself  in  Jordan's  stream,  and  the 
wilderness  of  Judaea  and  the  wedding  of  Cana  will 
to  me  be  alike  unworldly  ;  for  alike  in  the  wilder- 
ness and  at  the  wedding  I  shall  think  of  the 
brotherhood  of  man. 


215 


THE     SPECIALLY     REPROBATED    OLD 
TESTAMENT    SIN 

"The  covetous  renounceth  the  Lord." — Ps.  x.  3  (R.V.). 

This  is  the  strongest  language  ever  used  by  the 
Old  Testament  of  any  sin.  At  first  one  is  surprised 
that  of  this  particular  sin  such  language  should  be 
used.  Covetousness  seems  a  trivial  fault.  It  is 
not  a  heresy ;  it  is  not  a  blasphemy ;  it  is  not  a 
positive  hurt  to  others ;  it  is  simply  a  disease  of  the 
individual  soul.  Yet  I  do  not  know  of  any  sin  to 
which  the  Old  Testament  attaches  such  a  stigma. 
"The  covetous  renounceth  the  Lord."  You  will 
observe,  it  is  not  said,  "  The  Lord  renounceth  the 
covetous  "  ;  the  renunciation  is  on  the  human  side 
— on  the  side  of  the  covetous  man  himself.  A 
greater  stigma  could  not  be  attached  to  any  sin. 
Many  a  heretic  longs  for  God ;  many  an  agnostic 
thirsts  for  God ;  many  a  blasphemer  speaks  in  an 
hour  of  madness  what  is  not  the  voice  of  his  sober 
mind.  But  to  renounce  God,  to  calmly  refuse  His 
advances,  to  repudiate  His  fellowship,  to  shut  the 
door  deliberately  against  Him — this  is  the  acme  of 
216 


The  Specially  Reprobated  Old  Testament  Sin 

antagonism.  And  why  has  covetousness  incurred 
this  deadly  imputation  ?  It  is  because  the  spirit 
of  covetousness  is  the  extreme  opposite  of  the 
Spirit  of  God.  It  is  more  extreme  than  atheism. 
Atheism  only  fails  to  see  a.  Divine  Being  ;  covetous- 
ness sees  Him  quite  well  and  admires  not  His  beauty. 
That  which  the  covetous  man  admires  is  God's 
opposite.  God  is  love,  and  the  essence  of  love  is 
giving ;  covetousness  is  self,  and  the  essence  of 
self  is  retaining.  God  is  the  converse  of  avarice. 
God  dispenses  charity  ;  avarice  gathers  gold.  God 
lavishes  His  treasures ;  avarice  hoards  its  gains. 
God  lives  not  to  Himself;  avarice  has  no  life  for 
another.  God  seeks  out  the  destitute  ;  avarice 
hides  from  meeting  the  poor.  God  has  many 
mansions;  avarice  locks  itself  in  a  single  room. 
God  scatters  sunbeams;  avarice  picks  up  pins. 
God  sheds  His  blood  to  give  life  for  the  needy ; 
avarice  sheds  the  blood  of  the  needy  to  give  life  to 
itself.  I  do  not  wonder  that  a  Bible  poet  once 
selected  as  the  extreme  reverse  of  godliness,  not 
atheism,  but  avarice  :  "  Incline  my  heart  unto  Thy 
testimonies  and  not  to  covetousness." 

My  soul,  often  do  I  hear  thee  ask,  "  Why   has 

my  Father  put  so  bad  a  power  within  me  ?  "     It  is 

not   the   power   that   is   bad;  it   is  its  direction. 

There  is  a  Divine  place  for  thy    covetousness,  but 

217 


Thoughts   for   Life's  Journey 

it  is  not  the  place  thou  hast  chosen  for  it.  Thou 
hast  coveted  for  thyself ;  thou  wert  meant  to 
covet  for  God.  There  is  a  covetousness  which  is 
not  avarice.  The  w^ise  men  of  the  East  must  have 
passed  with  their  comrades  for  avaricious  men.  I 
marvelled  w^hen  I  saw  them  so  long  engaged  in 
gathering  earthly  gold.  I  said,  *'  Strange  that 
these  eyes  w^hich  have  been  trained  to  search  among 
the  stars  should  have  been  so  attracted  by  the 
glitter  of  things  below  !  "  But  by-and-by  I  saw 
them  carrying  their  gold  to  a  manger  where  lay 
that  Infant-Christ  for  whom  the  world  had  no 
room  ;  and  then  I  knew  that  they  had  gathered  for 
Jesus.  Seest  thou  that  daughter  of  Bethany  so 
eager  to  amass,  so  anxious  to  hoard  ?  She  seems 
a  child  of  avarice.  She  objects  to  her  sister's 
absorption  in  social  expenditure — to  the  many 
guests  at  the  feast,  to  the  many  things  provided  for 
them.  But  wait  a  little,  and  the  seeming  miser 
will  be  revealed  a  spendthrift — a  spendthrift  for  love. 
She  has  coveted  an  alabaster  box  for  Jesus — laden 
with  precious  ointment,  filled  with  richest  perfume. 
She  wants  to  lavish  it  in  her  love.  She  knows  it 
will  be  broken  in  fragments  ;  but  they  will  be  frag- 
ments of  fragrance.  She  knows  it  will  become  a 
mere  memory;  but  it  will  be  a  memory  of  love — 
and  it  is  for  that  she  gathers.  Be  thine  her 
218 


The  Specially  Reprobated  Old  Testament  Sin 

covetousness,  O  my  soul  !  Gather  for  Jesus  !  Grow 
rich  for  His  poverty  !  Seek  gold  for  His  service ! 
Save  treasures  for  His  manger !  Practice  self- 
denial  for  His  destitute  !  Lay  by  for  His  homeless  ! 
Store  up  for  His  friendless  !  Set  apart  from  Thine 
own  feast  for  His  hungering  and  thirsting  brothers  ! 
Then  shall  thine  be  a  covetousness  which  does  not 
renounce  God. 


219 


THE  POSTPONED  BLESSINGS  OF  GOD 

"My  prayer    is   unto  Thee         an  acceptable  time." — Ps. 
Lxix.  13. 

Prayers  are  commonly  divided  into  two  classes 
— those  which  are  conformable  to  the  will  of  God 
and  those  which  are  not.  The  psalmist  would 
suggest  a  third  class  belonging  to  neither  the  one 
nor  the  other.  He  says  there  may  be  prayers 
which  are  not  conformable  to  the  will  of  God  to- 
day, but  which  will  be  so  to-morrow.  There  is, 
according  to  him,  an  acceptable  time  for  the 
answering  of  certain  prayers.  He  does  not  mean 
that  there  is  an  acceptable  time  for  praying.  The 
Heavenly  Father  appreciates  prayer  whether  He 
can  respond  to  it  or  not.  The  limitation  is  not  to 
our  petitions,  but  to  God's  answers.  We  often  ask 
things  which  are  in  accordance  with  God's  will, 
but  for  which  we  are  not  ready.  A  young  child 
asks  his  father  for  a  knife.  Now,  that  is  a  posses- 
sion within  the  rights  of  a  human  being.  It  is  a 
possession  which  one  day  will  be  of  great  use  to 
the  petitioner  for  the  cutting  of  knots  which 
220 


The   Postponed   Blessings  of  God 

cannot  be  untied.  But  to-day  it  will  cut  not  the 
string  but  the  finger — will  immolate  not  the  child's 
difficulties,  but  the  child  himself.  I  am  quite  sure 
that  the  father  will  for  the  present  refuse  the 
prayer ;  he  will  lay  up  the  desired  gift  in  a  safe 
treasury,  awaiting  the  time  when  its  possession 
will  cease  to  be  a  danger  ;  it  has  been  asked  at  a 
season  which  is  not  acceptable.  Even  so,  there 
are  special  seasons  for  the  gifts  of  the  Heavenly 
Father.  Many  a  man  asks  in  April  a  gift  of 
Divine  fruit  that  will  only  be  ripe  in  June.  Take 
the  case  of  Paul.  Immediately  after  his  conver- 
sion he  prayed  for  a  mission,  "  Lord,  what  wouldst 
Thou  have  me  to  do  ? "  He  was  answered  by 
being  sent  into  the  solitudes  of  Arabia.  Was  the 
gratification  of  his  prayer  denied,  then  ?  No,  it 
was  postponed.  He  had  asked  at  an  unacceptable 
time.  He  had  desired  for  April  the  fruits  of  June. 
He  was  not  ready  for  a  mission.  The  light  from 
heaven  had  overheated  him.  He  needed  to  be 
cooled  down  ere  he  could  deal  with  the  practical 
wants  of  men.  Accordingly,  God  prepared  for 
him  a  place  in  the  wilderness  where  he  could  rest 
and  ponder.  The  mission  was  coming,  but  it  was 
coming  with  the  developed  years  ;  it  was  hid  in 
the  bosom  of  the  Father  till  the  acceptable  time. 
My  Father,  help  me  to  learn  that  I  am  heir  to 

221 


Thoughts   for  Life's   Journey 

possessions  which  exceed  my  present  holding ! 
They  exceed  my  present  power  to  hold — they  are 
waiting  for  my  summer.  Do  I  ever  thank  Thee  for 
the  blessings  which  Thou  postponest  ?  I  am 
afraid  not.  I  am  like  the  prodigal ;  I  want  to  get 
all  at  once  the  portion  that  falleth  to  me ;  and, 
where  it  is  not  given,  I  deem  it  is  refused.  Teach 
me,  O  Lord,  the  beauty  of  Thy  delayed  answers  ! 
I  have  sometimes  said  in  youth,  "  Lead  me  in 
green  pastures ;  make  me  to  lie  down  by  quiet 
waters."  And  lo  !  the  road  on  which  I  travel  has 
become  rough,  and  the  path  has  grown  thorny, 
and  the  stillness  has  been  broken  by  the  storm ! 
At  such  times  it  has  seemed  to  me  as  if  Thou 
hadst  forgotten  to  be  gracious.  Teach  me  that 
the  form  of  grace  I  have  asked  is  not  forgotten 
but  postponed !  Remind  me  that  youth  is  not  an 
acceptable  time  for  green  pastures  and  quiet 
waters  !  Remind  me  that  Thy  best  gift  to  youth 
is  just  the  rough  road  and  the  thorny  path  and  the 
beating  wind  !  Remind  me  that  at  the  beginning 
of  life  we  should  not  be  made  to  lie  down,  but  to 
rise  up  and  work  vigorously  !  Remind  me  that 
the  acceptable  time  is  coming — that  I  am  even 
now  the  heir  to  the  reserved  blessing!  Remind 
me  that  Thy  day  for  the  green  pastures  and  the 
quiet  waters  and  the  lying  down  will  be  the  after- 

222 


The  Postponed   Blessings  of  God 

noon  of  my  life — when  I  am  weary  with  the 
burden  and  the  heat,  when  I  am  oppressed  with 
the  circuit  of  the  sun  !  Thy  calm  is  for  the  mid- 
day, O  Lord ;  Thy  breeze  is  for  the  morning. 
Let  me  not  ask  the  calm  for  the  hour  Thou  hast 
destined  for  the  breeze ;  send  me  Thy  fruits  in 
Thine  acceptable  time  I 


223 


THE    PREPARATION    FOR    THOSE    ON 
THE    RIGHT    HAND. 

"Then  shall  the  King  say  unto  them  on  His  right  hand, 
Inherit  the  kingdom  prepared  for  you  from  the  foundation  of 
the  world." — Matt.  xxv.  34. 

"  Prepared  for  you."  Prepared  for  whom  ? 
For  the  sacrificial  souls  of  humanity — for  those 
of  whom  Christ  said,  "  I  was  hungry,  and  ye 
gave  me  meat."  The  idea  evidently  is  that  the 
future  life  will  be  adapted  to  the  spirit  of  sacrifice. 
This  present  world  is  not  adapted  to  the  spirit  of 
sacrifice;  it  presents  barriers  to  that  spirit. 
There  are,  I  think,  two  such  barriers.  For  one 
thing,  the  world's  ideal  of  heroism  is  not  that 
of  a  sacrificial  man ;  it  is  that  of  a  conquering 
man.  Earth  had  a  laurel  wreath  for  Caesar ;  for 
Christ  it  had  only  a  crown  of  thorns.  It  was 
prepared  for  Cassar ;  it  was  not  prepared  for 
Christ.  But  the  world  has  a  second  and  a  worse 
barrier  to  sacrifice ;  it  is  the  dimness  of  our 
mental  vision.  We  cannot  see  into  the  heart  of 
him  to  whom  we  minister.  We  often  present  a 
224 


Preparation   for  Those   on  the   Right   Hand 

stone  when  we  should  give  bread.  We  throw  a 
coin  to  a  beggar  who  needs  a  reformatory ;  we 
give  a  tract  to  a  suppliant  who  needs  a  coin.  We 
help  those  whom  we  should  teach  to  help  them- 
selves ;  we  offer  work  to  those  who  are  fit  only 
to  be  nursed.  In  these  two  respects  this  world 
is  not  adapted  to  the  sacrificial  soul.  But  Christ 
says  that  in  the  same  two  respects  the  future 
world  will  be  adapted.  There,  the  sacrificial  life 
will  be  deemed  the  heroic  life.  The  great  men 
of  the  New  Jerusalem  will  be  the  serving  men — 
those  who  do  errands  for  others ;  the  laurel 
wreaths  will  be  for  Christ  and  His  ministering 
spirits.  And  there,  the  sons  of  charity  will  be 
the  sons  of  vision.  They  will  see  into  the  heart 
of  their  less  favoured  brother;  they  will  know 
exactly  what  he  needs  ;  they  will  never  give  the 
wrong  thing.  That  is  what  I  understand  by  the 
words,  ''  Now  we  see  through  a  glass  darkly ; 
then,  face  to  face."  Remember  where  these 
words  occur.  In  the  chapter  on  charity.  Paul 
is  not  speaking  of  our  present  ignorance  of 
heavenly  mysteries  ;  he  is  speaking  of  our  present 
ignorance  of  how  to  deal  with  our  brother  man. 
He  is  saying,  in  effect,  that  this  life  is  not  well 
adapted  for  the  distribution  of  charity,  and  he  is 
anticipating  a  life  where  it  will  be  otherwise — a 
225  P 


Thoughts   for  Life's  Journey 

life  where  vision  shall  be  equal  to  benevolence, 
where  discernment  shall  move  hand  in  hand  with 
love,  where  perfect  knowledge  of  our  brother's 
need  shall  make  a  perfect  provision  for  our 
brother's  want. 

Lord,  hasten  the  happy  time  when  light  and 
love  shall  meet  together ;  prepare  a  kingdom  for 
the  sacrificial  soul !  Often  here  below  the  problem 
of  human  suffering  perplexes  us ;  the  spirit  is 
willing,  but  the  sight  is  weak.  We  know  not 
what  is  best  to  do.  We  cannot  tell  whether  to 
begin  with  the  strengthening  of  the  soul  or  the 
feeding  of  the  body — whether  to  say  "  Thy  sins 
be  forgiven  thee,"  or  *'  Arise,  and  walk."  Enlighten 
us,  O  Lord !  We  see  our  brother  through  a  glass 
darkly  ;  we  would  behold  him  face  to  face.  It  is 
for  the  sake  of  human  charity  that  we  ask  Divine 
light.  It  is  to  see  the  road  to  helpfulness  that 
we  supplicate  Thy  torch.  Not  for  the  sake  of 
speculation  do  we  ask  a  brighter  ray.  We  seek 
not  to  penetrate  into  Thy  deep  mysteries.  We 
aspire  not  to  fathom  the  sea  which  the  angels 
desire  to  look  into.  We  crave  not  to  know  the 
secrets  that  belong  to  Thyself  alone.  We  pray 
not  to  have  our  personal  life  lit  less  by  faith  and 
more  by  sight.  Nay,  our  Father,  in  all  these 
spheres  we  would  be  guided  still.  But  we  do 
226 


Preparation   for  Those   on   the   Right   Hand 

wish  to  find  the  secret  of  our  brother's  need  ;  we 
do  wish  to  inquire  the  way  to  our  sister's  help. 
We  want  Thy  hght  and  Thy  truth  that  we  may 
go  to  Thine  altar — Thy  place  of  sacrifice.  Light 
us  for  the  service  of  love  !  Give  us  Thy  Rontgen 
Rays  to  find  where  the  trouble  lies  !  Illuminate 
us  for  ministration  !  Quicken  us  to  detect  the 
destitute  spot !  Send  us  a  lamp  to  see  where  lurks 
the  sting  !  Inspire  us  to  know  the  spot  where  the 
seed  of  sorrow  dwells  !  Thou  shalt  answer  our 
prayer  in  the  kingdom  prepared  for  charity. 


227  p  2 


HOW    TO   ACCELERATE    TIME 

•*  The  sun  stood  still." — Joshua  x.  13. 
*'  They  willingly  received  Him  into  the  ship  ;  and  immediately 
the  ship  was  at  the  land  whither  they  went." — John  vi.  21. 

These  two  passages  each  record  an  opposite 
experience  of  the  human  soul — the  sense  of  time's 
dragging  and  the  sense  of  time's  acceleration. 
There  are  seasons  in  which  the  sun  stands  still — in 
which  the  hours  seem  to  pass  slowly ;  and  there 
are  seasons  in  which  the  ship  seems  immediately  to 
reach  the  destined  haven.  Can  we  put  our  hand 
on  the  cause  of  these  opposite  experiences  ?  I 
think  we  can  ;  and  I  also  think  it  does  not  lie 
where  it  is  usually  supposed  to  lie.  The  common 
view  is  that  time  always  moves  fast  when  the  mind 
is  occupied.  That  is  not  the  case ;  there  are 
seasons  of  absorption  in  grief  when  the  day  drags 
heavily,  drearily.  The  truth  is,  it  is  not  a  question 
of  occupation  but  of  what  occupies.  The  slowness 
or  quickness  of  time,  in  my  opinion,  depends  on 
whether  our  thoughts  are  personal  or  impersonal. 
Take  this  boat  on  the  Sea  of  Galilee.  We  have  to 
picture  the  disciples  toiling  with  the  rough  passage 
and  thinking  the  time  interminable.  They  have 
228 


How   to   Accelerate   Time 

parted  from  their  Master  and  have  no  object  of 
contemplation  but  their  own  safety  and  their  own 
difficulties.  Their  minds  are  thoroughly  occupied, 
but  they  are  occupied  with  themselves.  Theirs  is 
a  purely  personal  interest,  and  therefore  the  hours 
seem  to  linger.  We  cannot  say  that  the  sun  stood 
still,  for  it  was  night;  but  the  night  stood  stilL 
Suddenly,  they  see  their  Master  walking  on  the 
waves.  In  an  instant  their  anxiety  is  shifted  from 
themselves  to  Him — so  I  interpret  the  picture. 
They  see  Him  exposed,  defenceless,  to  the  blast — 
deprived  even  of  the  physical  refuge  which  they  them- 
selves possessed.  They  pant  to  shield  Him  from 
immediate  contact  with  the  sea.  They  eagerly  take 
Him  in;  they  minister  to  Him.  And  as  they  minister 
time  seems  annihilated.  A  few  minutes  ago  it  had 
been  dragging  heavily ;  now,  it  flies.  The  second 
half  of  the  voyage  appears  a  magical  transition .  So 
short  is  it  that  it  is  a  blank  to  them.  It  leaves  no 
record  on  their  memory.  Between  their  reception 
of  Jesus  and  their  touching  the  shore  they  can 
discern  no  interval;  they  can  only  write  in  their 
diary,  "  We  took  Him  into  the  ship,  and  imme- 
diately the  ship  was  at  the  land  whither  we  went." 
Lord-,  the  sea  of  life  is  stormy  and  we  are  toiling 
in  the  night.  Shall  our  toil  make  the  night  seem 
long  ?  It  depends  on  whom  we  are  working  for — ■ 
229 


Thoughts   for  Life's  Journey 

for  ourselves  or  for  Thee.  It  is  not  interest  thrt 
retards  the  hours ;  it  is  self-interest.  Send  us  an 
impersonal  joy  or  an  impersonal  fear;  either  will 
make  wings  for  time.  What  we  need  to  give 
pinions  to  the  hour  is  interest  in  Thy  Christ — in  the 
averting  of  His  sorrows,  in  the  securing  of  His 
rest.  He  is  out  on  the  stormy  sea,  walking  alone. 
He  is  out  on  the  stormy  sea  in  that  life  of  sympathy 
which  makes  Him  one  with  the  lowliest.  He  is 
out  on  the  stormy  sea  wherever  the  poor  are 
struggling  for  bread  or  the  homeless  crying  for 
shelter  or  the  ragged  shivering  with  cold.  He  is 
embodied  in  those  who  are  in  open  contact  with 
the  waves,  who  have  no  plank  between  their  feet 
and  the  waters ;  He  feels  their  feebleness,  He  is 
touched  by  their  trembHng.  Help  us  to  find  Him, 
O  Lord ;  urge  us  to  take  Him  in  !  Bend  our  will 
to  the  oar  with  the  chance  of  overtaking  Him,  of 
lending  Him  succour,  of  putting  something  between 
Him  and  the  sea  !  Then  the  hours  will  fly.  Every 
moment  will  be  precious — passing  too  soon.  The 
time  will  seem  too  short  for  the  work  we  have  to 
do.  Life  will  drag  no  more.  The  sun  will  not  stand 
still  by  day,  nor  the  moon  by  night.  Weariness  will 
vanish,  languor  will  cease,  monotony  will  dis- 
appear; and  when  we  turn  to  contemplate  the 
voyage  we  shall  find  ourselves  already  at  the  land. 
230 


THE    ENCOURAGEMENT    TO    CHARITY 

"Cast  thy  bread  upon  the  waters,   for    thou   shalt    find    it 
after  many  days." — Eccles.   xi.  i. 

The  writer  of  Ecclesiastes  is  speaking  of  the 
damper  which  often  falls  upon  our  deeds  of 
charity.  We  say  familiarly  of  many  acts  of 
benevolence,  **  It  is  just  throwing  money  into  the 
sea."  In  the  days  of  this  writer  that  saying  must 
have  been  almost  proverbial,  for  he  describes 
charity  by  an  equivalent  expression,  "  Cast  thy 
bread  upon  the  waters."  He  admits  that  benevo- 
lence is  a  throwing  of  money  into  the  sea — the 
casting  of  it  out  into  a  sphere  of  uncertainty. 
Yet,  in  spite  of  that,  he  bids  us  throw.  He  does 
so  on  the  ground  that,  though  the  sea  is  a  sphere 
of  uncertainty,  it  is  not  a  sphere  of  hopelessness ; 
many  things  which  are  laid  on  its  bosom  come 
back  to  us  again.  He  tells  us  that  we  shall  find 
our  bread  of  charity  "  after  many  days."  I  under- 
stand him  to  mean,  "  after  many  castings."  I  do 
not  think  the  idea  is  so  much  that  of  time  as  of 
231 


Thoughts  for   Life's  Journey 

repeated  effort.  What  I  take  him  to  say  is  this  : 
"  You  are  committing  your  charities  to  a  very 
uncertain  medium,  and  the  large  majority  of  them 
will  probably  bear  no  fruit.  But  out  of  a  thousand 
scattered  seeds  some  few  will  fructify.  Out  of  the 
many  to  whom  your  charity  may  be  in  vain,  there 
will  be  at  least  two  or  three  to  whom  it  will  bring 
blessing,  and  perhaps  these  two  or  three  may  be 
more  powerful  than  would  have  been  all  the  rest 
put  together.  Cast  the  many  seeds  for  the  sake  of 
the  two  or  three."  I  agree  with  the  writer  of 
Ecclesiastes.  I  hold  that  charity  is  always  an  act 
of  faith — that  it  must  be  bestowed  in  the  absence 
of  certainty.  I  hold  that  it  must  be  tested  by  its 
power  to  endure  many  clouds,  by  its  ability  to 
withstand  ninety-nine  failures  for  the  sake  of  the 
hundredth  case  which  is  to  prove  a  success.  I 
know  a  man  intimately  who  has  been  periodically 
solicited  for  loans  of  money  during  a  long  term 
of  years,  and  who  has  generally  acceded  to  the 
request.  Of  these  loans  he  can  only  recall  one 
instance  of  repayment ;  but  the  instance  is  that  of 
a  boy  whom  he  relieved  in  an  emergency,  and  who 
has  lived  to  be  a  comfort  to  his  family.  The  one 
success  has  compensated  the  many  failures.  The 
bread  which  has  been  cast  upon  the  waters  has 
come  back  only  in  fragments  ;  but  the  fragments 
232 


The   Encouragement   to   Charity 

have  been  so  precious  that  they  have  justified  the 
cost. 

My  soul,  let  thy  charity  be  the  child  of  thy 
faith  and  hope  !  Never  desist  from  love  through 
despair  of  life  !  Do  not  imagine  that  the  value  of 
a  spiritual  harvest  depends  on  the  amount  of  the 
bread  !  There  were  many  babes  in  Bethlehem  in 
the  days  of  Herod  the  king,  and  doubtless  much 
bread  was  cast  upon  the  waters  for  their  susten- 
ance. Yet  I  am  told  that  only  one  of  these 
reached  manhood;  the  rest  were  the  victims  of 
Herod.  What  then  ?  Was  the  faith  of  the 
Israelites  in  vain  ?  No.  Who  was  that  one  babe 
of  Bethlehem  that  reached  maturity  ?  It  was  a 
life  whose  single  force  was  to  turn  the  current  of 
history,  whose  single  energy  was  to  make  all 
things  new.  Say  not  that  thy  work  is  wasted 
though  thy  charity  has  rescued  but  one  !  Hast 
thou  measured  the  strength  that  may  lie  in  one  ? 
There  was  only  one  struck  by  the  light  at 
Damascus;  but  that  one  was  Paul.  There  was 
only  one  gained  by  the  mission  of  Philip  ;  but  that 
one  stood  close  to  royalty.  Often  in  Samaria 
thou  standest  by  the  well  alone,  and  there  seems 
no  response  to  the  thirst  of  thy  solitary  heart.  Do 
not  go  away ;  abandon  not  yet  thy  labours !  I 
see  one  coming.  It  is  only  one;  there  is  no 
233 


Thoughts   for   Life's  Journey 

multitude  with  her.  Yet  she  may  be  more  influential 
than  all  that  have  passed  by  on  the  other  side. 
Wait  for  her,  O  my  soul !  Though  she  is  but  one, 
wait  for  her!  Though  thou  art  weary,  wait  for 
her !  Though  the  well  is  deep  and  the  gain  seems 
small,  wait  for  her !  Though  she  comes  only  by 
accident  and  knows  not  of  thy  presence,  wait  for 
her !  Her  coming  may  be  the  return  of  the 
prayers  thou  hast  cast  upon  the  waters. 


234 


THE    PRAYER    OF    JAMES    AND    JOHN 

"And  James  and  John  come  unto  Him,  saying,  Master, 
we  would  that  Thou  shouldest  do  for  us  whatsoever  we  shall 
desire." — Mark  x.  35. 

I  THINK  there  is  a  great  difference  between  the 
physical  and  the  mental  world.  In  the  physical 
world  we  ascend  from  small  demands  to  high ;  in 
the  mental  we  descend  from  high  demands  to  small. 
A  child  begins  with  simple  food  and  becomes 
gradually  capable  of  assimilating  richer  diet.  But  a 
beginner  in  the  spiritual  life  puts  out  his  hand  to 
touch  the  roof  of  the  universe.  His  eye  rests  primarily 
on  the  top  of  the  mountain,  and  it  is  for  that  he 
first  aims.  In  no  department  is  this  so  conspicu- 
ous as  in  the  sphere  of  prayer.  We  should  expect 
the  history  of  prayer  to  be  a  history  of  ever-increas- 
ing demands — beginning  with  trifling  requests 
and  ending  with  great  requirements.  It  is  the 
reverse ;  it  begins  with  great  requirements  and  it 
ends  with  requests  which  the  world  would  call 
trifling.  We  have  here  before  us  one  of  the  earliest 
prayers  of  Christianity.    Two  fishermen  enter  into 

235 


Thoughts  for  Life's  Journey 

the  presence  of  Christ  to  ask  a  personal  boon.  We 
expect  that  this  first  flight  of  prayer  will  be  something 
modest — the  petition  for  success  in  their  trade,  or 
for  comfort  in  their  home,  or  for  support  in  their 
duties.  To  our  astonishment,  it  is  the  boldest 
request  ever  preferred  by  the  lips  of  mortal  man  : 
"  We  would  that  Thou  shouldest  do  for  us  what- 
soever we  shall  desire."  I  suppose  there  had  come 
to  their  ears  Herod's  promise  to  Herodias  that  he 
would  grant  her  whatever  she  should  ask.  They 
probably  said,  "  If  a  petty  earthly  ruler  could  make 
such  an  offer  to  a  member  of  his  family,  is  it  too 
much  to  hope  that  the  Ruler  of  the  kingdom  of 
Heaven  will  do  it  for  His  faithful  followers?  "  The 
word  that  raises  a  smile  is  the  word  "  hope."  It 
never  occurred  to  these  men  that  Herod  had  not 
offered  a  boon  at  all — that  the  promise  had  proved 
a  disaster.  For  the  feature  of  the  prayer  is  not  its 
presumption  ;  it  is  its  hurtfulness.  Where  lies  the 
sting  of  saying,  "Give  me  whatever  I  desire"? 
It  lies  in  the  prayer's  selfishness.  It  is  im- 
possible that  my  desire  should  not  at  some 
point  cross  the  desire  of  my  brother.  My  crops 
may  be  crying  for  rain,  and  his  for  sunshine.  My 
heart  may  be  seeking  in  marriage  a  human  object 
which  he  is  also  seeking.  The  door  by  which 
I  would  find  promotion  may  be  the  door  at  which 
236 


The   Prayer  of  James   and  John 

he  himself  is  knocking.     Shall  I  make  my  prayer 
a  weapon  to  strike  him  down  ? 

Forbid  it,  Lord ;  deny  the  pernicious  request ! 
Let  my  first  prayer  be,  "  Teach  me  to  pray  !  "  I 
am  more  afraid  of  my  desires  than  of  anything  else 
in  the  world.  My  deepest  fear  in  prayer,  but  for 
Thy  love,  would  be  not  the  refusal,  but  the  grant- 
ing of  it.  If  I  did  not  know  that  Thou  art  love,  I 
should  tremble  before  the  gates  of  my  own  suppli- 
cation. I  should  feel  as  I  do  when  conflicting 
armies  are  on  the  verge  of  battle  and  I  expect 
to  hear  of  slaughter.  Shall  my  petition  be  the 
destruction  of  my  neighbour's  hope?  Shall  the 
flowering  of  my  garden  be  the  withering  of  his  ? 
Shall  the  bridge  by  which  I  cross  the  river  be  the 
mutilated  heart  of  my  brother  man  ?  Thou,  whose 
name  is  Love,  let  it  not  be  !  Thou  hast  made  the 
house  of  prayer  for  mutual  helpfulness ;  let  me  not 
make  it  a  den  of  thieves — a  place  for  over-reaching 
my  comrade  !  Rather  let  me  invert  the  prayer  of 
these  fishermen  of  Galilee  ;  let  me  say,  "  Do  unto 
me  whatsoever  Thou  shalt  desire !  "  Let  me  cast 
my  hopes,  not  upon  my  love  for  myself,  but  upon 
Thy  love  for  me !  Let  me  put  my  interests  into 
Thy  hands !  It  is  the  only  confidence  I  can  have 
that  my  prayer  will  be  a  holy  and  not  a  harmful 
thing.     I  should  like  to  get  my  own  desires  in  so 

237 


Thoughts   for   Life's  Journey 

far  as  tney  coincide  with  the  glory  of  Thy  kingdom 
— no  less,  no  more.  I  would  not  be  a  favoured 
one.  I  would  not  get  the  daily  bread  that  is  denied 
to  my  playmate ;  it  would  turn  to  ashes  on  my 
lips.  Give  Thy  crown  in  common !  Light  Thy 
sun  on  every  stream  !  Impart  Thy  warmth  to 
a  united  world !  Then  only  shall  I  ask  the 
fulfilment  of  my  desire. 


n* 


THE    MORAL    INFLUENCE    OF    HIGH 
POSITION 

"  The  mountain  shall  bring  peace  to  the  people  by  righteous* 
ness." — Ps,  Lxxii.  3. 

The  mountains  have  generally  brought  war  to 
the  people.  This  has  been  increasingly  true  the 
further  back  we  go.  The  unrighteousness  of  those 
in  high  places  has  brought  great  misery  to  those 
beneath  them.  The  selfish  ambition  of  kings  has 
in  times  of  arbitrary  government  dragged  their 
unoffending  subjects  into  their  own  penalties — 
famine,  pestilence,  devastation  of  land,  slaughter 
of  kindred,  exposure  to  danger  and  privation.  I 
think  the  greatest  calamities  which  have  befallen 
the  people  of  most  countries  have  come  from  the 
mountains  or  high  places.  Unrighteousness  on 
the  mountains  has  brought  dispeace  to  the  people 
in  other  spheres  than  that  of  war.  Take  an  age  of 
rampant  immorality.  Analyse  its  source,  and  you 
will  find  that  it  has  been  drafted  from  the  moun- 
tains. It  has  come  down  to  the  people  as  a 
fashion  prevalent  in  the  upper  air.  It  has  come 
239 


Thoughts   for   Life's  Journey 

down  glorified  by  its  previous  height.  It  has  lost 
its  association  with  sin  by  its  association  with 
rank  and  power ;  nay,  it  has  been  even  painted 
with  radiance  by  the  sunbeams  on  the  hill.  But 
the  psalmist  looks  forward  to  a  time  when  the 
mountains  will  have  an  opposite  influence  on  the 
people.  He  says  there  is  a  day  coming  in  which 
the  king  shall  realise  that  he  is  a  servant  of  the 
people,  answerable  for  their  moral  welfare  and 
bound  to  maintain  their  interests.  He  predicts 
the  advent  of  an  age  when  individual  advantage 
shall  cease  to  be  the  motive  of  earthly  sovereigns. 
He  sees  in  the  air  the  Kingdom  of  Messiah,  the 
kingdom  where  the  ruler  shall  be  minister  to 
universal  need,  where  the  greatest  shall  be  the 
least,  where  the  wearer  of  the  crown  shall  be  the 
crucifier  of  his  own  passions.  And  because  in  the 
sweet  by-and-by  he  sees  beauty  on  the  mountains, 
he  sees  it  also  on  the  plains  and  in  the  valleys. 
He  feels  that  the  tendency  of  fashion,  be  it  good 
or  bad  fashion,  is  to  flow  down.  He  feels  that  the 
course  of  virtue,  like  the  course  of  vice,  is  not 
from  the  provinces  to  the  capital,  but  from  the 
capital  to  the  provinces.  He  hails  the  beautiful 
feet  when  they  appear  upon  the  mountains,  for  he 
knows  that  from  the  mountains  the  tidings  most 
swiftly  come,  and  that  the  speed  of  purity  is 
240 


The   Moral   Influence   of  High    Position 

accelerated     by    the     impulse     from    an     upper 
breeze. 

Lord,  ever  increasingly  may  the  mountains 
bring  peace  to  the  people  !  The  people  take 
their  fashion  from  the  mountains ;  may  the 
fashion  on  the  mountains  be  good  !  I  thank 
Thee  that  Thou  hast  revealed  a  new  ideal  of 
kinghood.  I  thank  Thee  that,  in  Jesus  Christ 
Thy  Son,  Thou  hast  taught  the  humility  of  being 
on  the  height,  the  responsibility  of  being  regal, 
the  weightedness  of  wearing  a  crown.  I  thank 
Thee  that  the  sceptre  has  become  associated  with 
stooping,  the  headship  with  healing,  the  royalty 
with  repair  of  wrong.  Place  that  ideal  on  the 
top  of  the  mountain ;  make  each  hill  where  the 
king  sits  a  "holy  hill  of  Zion  "  !  Cleanse  the 
mountain  air ;  let  there  be  many  lights  in  the 
upper  chamber  !  Put  a  premium  on  propriety ; 
make  vice  disrespectable  !  We  often  say,  "  I  must 
do  in  Rome  as  Rome  does";  teach  Rome  to  do 
well  that  we  may  be  pure  in  following  her  !  I  am 
more  afraid  of  the  gilding  of  sin  than  of  its  gross- 
ness.  If  I  saw  it  in  itself  I  should  scorn  it ;  but 
when  I  see  it  lighted  on  the  hilltops  it  assumes  a 
glory.  Therefore,  O  Lord,  I  beseech  Thee  to 
remove  it  from  the  hills,  to  strip  it  of  its  false 
splendour !       Make  holy  the   heights  where  the 

241  Q 


Thoughts   for   Life's  Journey 

great  ones  dwell!  Purify  earth's  palaces  ;  sanctify 
earth's  sovereigns  ;  stir  the  conscience  of  earth's 
courtiers !  Associate  kinghood  with  kindness, 
power  with  peacefulness,  strength  with  sympathy, 
leading  with  light,  government  with  godliness, 
empire  with  earnestness,  rank  with  righteousness, 
status  with  stainlessness,  brilliance  of  position 
with  the  bearing  of  human  pain  !  Then  shall  we 
look  up  to  the  hills  for  our  aid ;  then  shall  the 
mountains  bring  peace  to  the  people. 


242 


HELP    FROM    THE     SUPERNATURAL 

"  Then  came  Jesus,  the  doors  being  shut,  and  said,  Peace  be 
unto  you." — John  xx.  26. 

It  is  not  always  that  Christ  comes  into  tie 
soul  when  the  doors  of  the  world  are  shut.  To 
the  apostles  themselves  He  had  originally  come 
through  the  world's  open  doors.  He  had  reached 
them  in  the  course  of  their  daily  labour.  He  had 
met  Peter  by  the  sea,  Matthew  at  the  receipt  of 
custom,  Thomas  in  the  exercise  of  his  intellect. 
Most  of  His  followers  had  been  found  in  a  pleasant 
environment — Nathanael  under  a  tree,  Zacchseus 
on  the  top  of  a  tree,  Martha  and  Mary  and 
Lazarus  in  the  family  circle,  the  shepherds  in 
the  watching  of  their  flocks,  the  astronomers  in 
the  observing  of  a  star,  the  men  of  Cana  in  the 
feast  of  nuptial  joy.  But  there  are  times  when 
Christ  comes,  not  through  the  open,  but  through 
the  shut,  doors  of  life — when  no  flowers  clothe 
the  fig-tree,  when  the  flock  is  cut  off  from  the 
243  92 


Thoughts   for   Life's  Journey 

fold,  when  the  board  of  Bethany  is  spread  no 
more,  when  the  treasures  brought  from  the  East 
are  exhausted,  when  the  vine  has  denied  her  fruit 
to  Cana  and  the  nuptial  joy  is  silent.  Even  at 
such  a  time  of  closed  doors  the  peace  of  Christ 
has  often  entered  the  soul.  You  have  heard  one 
say  at  times,  "  I  cannot  get  up  my  spirits ;  I 
know  not  how  it  is;  every  door  is  open  to  me, 
yet  Hfe  feels  flat  and  poor."  But  there  is  another 
and  an  exactly  contrary  experience.  There  are 
seasons  when  you  hear  one  say,  "  I  cannot  let 
down  my  spirits ;  I  know  not  what  is  keeping  me 
up  ;  all  the  doors  of  life  are  shut,  yet  I  cease  not 
from  my  song."  It  is  rather  a  singing  than  a 
soaring,  rather  a  keeping-up  than  a  flying  on  the 
wing,  rather  a  peace  than  a  transport.  I  do  not 
at  such  moments  believe  the  doors  to  be  open 
when  they  are  shut ;  I  am  simply  conscious  of  a 
warm  fire  inside,  which  will  not  let  me  feel 
desolate.  Whence  the  fire  comes,  I  cannot  tell. 
Eye  hath  not  seen  its  kindling;  ear  hath  not 
heard  its  crackling ;  heart  hath  not  conceived  the 
fuel  by  which  it  flames.  It  warms  without  wood, 
it  comforts  without  coal,  it  heats  without  hands, 
it  subsists  without  sustenance,  it  renews  without 
replenishing,  it  lasts  without  human  labour ;  it  is 
the  peace  of  God. 

244 


Help   from   the   Supernatural 

O  Thou  who  hast  brought  a  resurrection  life 
into  a  world  with  shut  doors,  I  too,  when  my 
doors  are  shut,  may  be  reached  by  Thee.  There 
are  days  when  all  my  avenues  are  closed.  There 
is  no  entrance  from  the  front — the  future  is  cloudy. 
There  is  no  entrance  from  the  back — the  retrospect 
is  sombre.  There  is  no  entrance  from  the  side — 
the  things  of  life  are  adverse.  There  is  no  entrance 
from  the  roof — like  the  patriarch  Job  I  have  lost 
sight  of  the  open  heaven.  Men  look  and  say, 
"A  doomed  house,  a  sealed  house,  a  house  where 
the  inmate  must  die."  Yet,  in  such  a  house  Thy 
resurrection  life  can  dwell.  Thou  canst  enter 
without  doors.  Thy  peace  can  tread  where  there 
is  no  pathway ;  Thy  rest  can  travel  where  there 
is  no  road.  There  is  a  light  which  surprises — it 
shineth  in  darkness.  Thou  hast  birds  that  sing 
where  there  is  no  summer ;  Thou  hast  flowers 
that  bloom  where  there  is  no  sun ;  Thou  hast 
faces  that  smile  where  there  is  no  outward  fortune. 
Send  me,  O  Lord,  Thy  supernatural  joy — Thy 
grandly  unreasonable  rest !  Dawn  in  my  dark- 
ness !  Glitter  in  my  gloom  !  Fan  into  flame  my 
emberless  fireplace !  Send  me  steadfastness  in 
the  storm  !  Lend  me  nerve  in  the  night !  Give 
me  bravery  in  the  loss  of  battle  !  Cheer  me  in 
the  chill !     Warm  me  in  the  winter  !     Lighten  me 

245 


Thoughts   for   Life's  Journey 

spite  of  my  load  !  Prepare  for  me  a  feast  in  the 
presence  of  my  foes  !  Let  the  lamb  lie  down 
with  the  lion — let  the  calm  subsist  amid  the 
world's  roar  !  Then  shall  I  know  that  Thy  peace 
is  not  born  of  earthly  things. 


246 


CHRIST'S    NATIONAL    JUDGMENT 

"  When  the  Son  of  Man  shall  come  in  His  glory,  then  shall 
He  sit  upon  the  throne  of  His  glory  ;  and  before  Him  shall 
be  gathered  all  nations ;  and  He  shall  separate  them." — 
Matt.   xxv.  31,   32. 

I  UNDERSTAND  the  idea  to  be,  **  There  is  a  time 
coming  in  which  the  worth  of  a  nation  will  be 
measured  by  its  conformity  to  the  standard  of  the 
Son  of  Man."  Put  into  modern  language,  the 
prophecy  is  this,  "  The  nations  at  the  right  hand 
of  power  will  be  the  nations  animated  by  the  love 
of  humanity."  Wherever  the  Son  of  Man  has 
come  in  His  glory — wherever  the  welfare  of 
humanity  is  the  paramount  thing,  the  humanised 
nations  are  the  powerful  nations.  Before  men 
recognised  the  glory  of  a  human  soul  the  power  of 
a  nation  lay  in  something  material.  The  great 
kingdoms  were  the  kingdoms  of  physical  force,  of 
crushing  strength,  of  warlike  prowess ;  their 
symbol  was  the  lion  and  the  panther.  But  when 
an  individual  man  was  enthroned  in  the  heart  of 
the  world,  when  the  most  attractive  object  in  the 
247 


Thoughts   for   Life's  Journey 

universe  became  a  sacrificial  human  soul,  then  the 
first  was  made  last  and  the  last  first.  The  king- 
doms of  physical  force  faded  and  the  kingdoms  of 
moral  force  advanced.  When  the  sign  of  the  Son 
of  Man  appeared  in  heaven,  those  nations  came  to 
the  front  that  recognised  the  rights  of  man.  The 
lands  of  liberality  became  the  lands  of  light.  The 
empires  of  intolerance  receded  ;  they  passed  to  the 
left  of  the  throne.  Despotism  withdrew  into  the 
desert.  Tyranny  went  back  with  the  tide. 
Slavery  retreated  to  the  silence.  Monopoly  was 
hidden  in  the  mist.  The  free  nations  stood  fore- 
most. Europe  outstripped  Asia ;  America  outran 
Africa ;  the  West  left  the  East  behind.  Culture 
suppressed  cruelty.  Charity  broke  man's  chain. 
Love  restrained  law.  Pity  softened  power. 
Service  eclipsed  sovereignty.  Kindness  outshone 
kinghood.  Meekness  became  more  potent  than 
majesty.  The  roaring  of  the  lion  was  drowned  in 
the  pleading  of  the  lamb. 

Lord,  may  Thy  kingdom  come  !  May  it  come 
not  in  the  clouds  of  heaven,  but  in  the  cloudless- 
ness  of  earth !  We  thank  Thee  that  already  we 
hear  it  on  its  way.  We  thank  Thee  that  the 
wheels  of  Thy  chariot  draw  nearer.  We  thank 
Thee  that  the  nations  at  the  right  hand  of  power 
are  the  humanitarian  nations.  We  thank  Thee 
248 


Christ's   National  Judgment 

that  the  empires  which  oppressed  the  rights  of 
man  have  taken  the  left  side  and  sunk  into  the 
shade.  Nearer  and  nearer,  O  Lord,  may  that 
kingdom  come — the  kingdom  of  humanity! 
Swifter  and  swifter  may  that  chariot  roll — the 
chariot  of  the  Son  of  Man  !  More  and  more  may 
the  eyes  of  the  nations  rest  on  the  glory  of  a  human 
soul !  May  ever  deeper  grow  their  enthusiasm  for 
the  work  of  Jesus — their  desire  to  serve  Him,  their 
eagerness  to  follow  Him  !  May  they  feel  that  a 
kingdom  is  only  great  when  it  is  sprinkled  by  His 
Spirit !  May  they  learn  that  from  Him  come  all 
the  qualities  of  their  soldiers — the  chivalry,  the 
courage,  the  endurance  !  May  they  learn  that  from 
Him  come  all  the  qualitiesof  their  statesmen — the 
wisdom,  the  prudence,  the  foresight !  May  they 
leara  that  from  Him  come  all  the  qualities  of  their 
teacher:, — .he  patience,  the  clearness,  the  tender- 
ness !  To  Him  may  they  trace  their  happy 
homes,  their  domestic  endearments,  their  lamps  of 
amily  love  !  To  Him  may  they  ascribe  their  boast 
of  brotherhood,  their  social  sympathy,  their 
mutual  membership  !  To  him  may  they  dedicate 
th  tk  chalice  of  charity,  their  cup  of  kindness,  their 
ministry  to  man  !  To  him  may  they  attribute  the 
survival  of  their  sick,  the  healing  of  their  helpless, 
the  life  of  their  languid,  the  fire  of  their  feeble,  the 
249 


Thoughts  for   Life's  Journey 

wealth  of  their  weak,  the  song  of  their  sorrowful, 
the  bravery  of  their  baffled,  the  hopefulness  of 
their  heavy-laden !  May  they  find  the  secret  of 
their  right-hand  place  in  this,  that  he  who  sits 
upon  their  throne  is  the  Son  of  Man  \ 


250 


INDIVIDUAL    IMMORTALITY 

"To  every  seed  its  own  body." — i  Cor.  xv.  38. 

Paul  is  speaking  of  the  soul  in  the  future  state. 
It  is  the  boldest  assertion  of  individualism  I  have 
met  with  in  all  literature.  What  is  it  that  makes 
you  and  me  individuals?  It  is  not  the  fact  that 
each  of  us  has  a  body,  but  that  each  of  us  has 
*'his  own  body" — a  body  different  from  others. 
It  is  our  difference  that  makes  us  individuals.  I 
heard  an  eminent  theologian  once  say  that,  in  his 
opinion,  when  we  get  to  heaven  we  shall  all  think 
the  same  thing  at  the  same  time.  This  was  his 
notion  of  reconciling  the  individual  with  the 
universal.  I  should  call  it  the  killing  of  the 
individual  by  the  universal.  In  such  a  state  we 
might  have  communion  with  God,  but  we  should 
never  have  communion  with  one  another.  What 
is  it  that  makes  the  communion  between  any  two 
souls?  It  is  their  mutual  exchange  of  ideas. 
To  think  the  same  thing  at  the  same  time  is  not  to 
exchange  ideas.  You  may  set  your  clocks  so  as 
to  strike  the  same  hour  at  precisely  the  same 
moment.  That  is  exactly  what  such  a  heaven 
251 


Thoughts   for   Life's   Journey 

would  be.  If  the  Hving  timepieces  in  the  many 
mansions  of  our  Father's  house  are  to  strike  the 
hours  uniformly  and  simultaneously,  we  shall  all 
be  harmonious,  but  we  shall  cease  to  be  individuals. 
What  constitutes  me  a  separate  man  is  just  the 
fact  that  the  clocks  do  not  sound  uniformly  nor 
simultaneously.  Our  separateness  is  not  our 
sameness,  but  our  communion.  Communion 
demands  diiference — individuality.  If  you  and  I 
meet  on  the  road  some  day  and  both  exclaim  in 
a  breath,  ''  It  is  very  fine  weather,"  what  have  we 
given  to  each  other  ?  Nothing  ;  we  have  simply 
expressed  ourselves,  uttered  our  united  opinion. 
There  is  a  great  deal  too  much  of  this  in  the 
present  world — union  without  communion.  God 
says  He  will  make  it  different  yonder — a  man  will 
keep  his  own.  Heaven  will  restore  the  individu- 
ality which  earth  has  broken ;  we  shall  all  be 
self-revealing  in  the  sweet  by-and-by. 

Lord,  I  have  heard  men  say  that  death  will  rob 
me  of  my  personal  life.  But  Thou  hast  told  me 
it  is  this  world  that  robs  me  and  that  death  will 
restore  it.  Here,  I  have  not  my  own  body;  I 
have  the  body  of  the  community ;  I  am  wound  up 
to  speak  the  same  words  that  the  world  speaks. 
But  yonder,  I  shall  be  an  individual  soul — uncon- 
ventional, spontaneous,  free.  I  shall  have  my 
252 


Individual   Immortality 

own  body — not  another's.  I  shall  not  merely 
accompary  the  stroke  of  a  neighbouring  timepiece; 
my  own  hour  will  have  come — the  hour  for  self- 
revealing.  The  fashion  of  this  world  is  conformity ; 
but  the  fashion  of  Thy  world  will  be  difference. 
Thy  conformity  is  not  a  united  hour-stroke  but  a 
united  song.  It  takes  many  different  notes  to 
make  a  song ;  to  be  a  member  of  Thy  choir  in- 
visible I  must  sing  my  own  part.  Let  me  practise 
that  part  now,  O  Lord  !  Let  me  find,  on  earth, 
my  place  in  the  choir  above !  Let  me  not  be 
distressed  though  I  strike  not  the  key  of  another ! 
If  I  have  failed  to  walk  upon  Peter's  sea,  let  me 
not  be  discouraged  thereby  ! — Thy  part  for  me 
may  be  the  inland  lake.  If  I  have  failed  to  flash 
Elijah's  fire,  let  me  not  be  downcast  thereby ! — Thy 
part  for  me  may  be  the  still  small  voice.  If  I  have 
failed  to  climb  the  Mount  with  Moses,  let  me  not 
be  ashamed  thereby ! — Thy  part  for  me  may  be 
the  modest  vale.  I  ask  not  the  note  of  my 
brother ;  I  ask  the  power  to  blend  with  it.  May 
the  lark  keep  its  morn  and  the  nightingale  its  eve ! 
May  the  wise  men  meet  their  star  and  the  shep- 
herds their  flock !  May  Cana  yield  Thee  her 
wine,  and  Bethany  her  domestic  joy,  and  Nain  her 
ministry  to  tears  !  The  varied  sounds  will  make 
one  harmony  in  the  song  of  Thy  redeemed. 
253 


THE    EFFECT     OF    SIN'S     EXPULSION 

"  When  she  was  come  to  her  house,  she  found  the  devil  gone 
out,  and  her  daughter  laid  upon  the  bed." — Mark  vii.  30. 

The  immediate  effect  of  cure  is  not  a  sense  of 
exhilaration.  This  is  true  even  of  physical  illness ; 
the  patient  is  most  apt  to  feel  his  weakness  in  the 
hours  of  convalescence.  But  it  is  supremely  true 
in  the  spiritual  world.  This  maiden  had  been 
what  we  should  now  call  regenerated;  an  evil 
spirit  had  been  cast  out  of  her.  Yet  the  imme- 
diate effect  is  not  encouraging.  Instead  of  being 
elevated  she  is  prostrated ;  she  is  found  lying  on 
a  bed.  She  had  lost  her  old  energy.  That  energy 
had  come  from  delusive  desires ;  but  it  had 
probably  made  her  charming.  She  had  found 
that  she  had  been  chasing  a  shadow ;  but,  during 
the  chase,  she  had  been  brilliant.  To  find  that  it 
had  been  a  shadow  was  gain  ;  but  it  was  gain  that 
involved  loss — not  permanently  indeed,  but  for 
to-day  and  to-morrow.  It  took  away  the  zest 
from  life ;  it  dimmed  for  a  time  the  sparkle  of  the 
eye ;  it  substituted  the  heavy  step  for  the  wings  of 
an  eagle.     A  disillusioned  soul  is  like  a  weaned 

254 


The   Effect   of  Sin's   Expulsion 

child.  When  a  young  man  first  abandons  the 
wine-cup  he  probably  for  a  time  abandons  some- 
t  .;ng  more.  He  may  lose  his  sparkle,  his  humour, 
h"s  brilliancy.  He  may  lack  the  genial  jest,  the 
r^ady  repartee,  the  mirth  that  made  others  merry. 
His  comrades  may  miss  in  him  the  laugh  that 
brought  light  and  the  charm  that  gave  cheer  and 
the  buoyancy  that  for  a  night  banished  care.  He 
has  had  to  pay  for  his  freedom,  and  it  is  no 
wonder  if  for  an  hour  he  is  impoverished.  It  is  a 
dreary  season  between  Egypt  and  Canaan.  It  is 
well  called  a  desert.  Our  treasures  are  often 
wrapped  up  in  our  trespasses  so  that  to  part  with 
the  latter  is  to  part  with  the  former.  The  resur 
rection  from  sin  reveals  at  first  but  an  empty 
tomb  where  the  spices  of  life  are  useless  and  there 
is  nothing  worthy  to  be  embalmed. 

And  yet,  my  Father,  such  is  not  the  rest  Thou 
hast  in  store  for  me.  Thou  hast  not  lifted  me  out 
of  the  passions  of  sin  that  I  may  enter  into  a  life 
of  passionlessness.  I  may  be  exhausted  for  a 
day,  I  may  be  prostrated  for  a  night  upon  my 
bed.  Yet  my  goal  is  not  a  couch,  but  a  crown. 
There  is  coming  to  me  a  new  passion,  a  fresh 
energy,  a  second  youth.  Hast  Thou  not  said  that 
the  joyous  things  of  this  world  are  but  shadows 
of  things  to  come  ?  Yes,  my  Father,  and  therefore 

^55 


Thoughts   for   Life's  Journey 

I  shall  get  back  the  equivalents  of  all  that  I  have 
lost.  Beyond  these  forty  days  of  the  wilderness 
there  glimmers  the  light  of  a  second  Cana  where 
the  water  once  more  shall  be  turned  into  wine. 
Thy  latest  word  to  every  soul  is  this :  "  Arise, 
take  up  thy  bed  and  walk  !  "  Mine  will  be  again 
the  sense  of  morning,  the  glad  look-out,  the 
prospect  of  a  promised  land.  Mine  will  be  again 
the  impulse  of  the  young,  the  heat  of  expectancy, 
the  blood  made  rapid  by  hope.  Mine  will  be 
again  the  disbelief  in  limitations,  the  confidence  in 
destiny,  the  faith  that  mountains  will  be  removed. 
Mine  will  be  again  the  poet's  dream — the  belief 
that  somewhere  there  is  a  city  paved  with  gold. 
Mine  will  be  again  the  communion  of  brotherhood 
— ^joined  by  the  cup  that  quickens  yet  inebriates 
not,  that  dwarfs  the  care  without  making  oblivious 
of  the  joy.  Mine  will  be  again  the  forgetfulness 
of  earth's  decay — the  trust  that  love  will  last,  the 
hope  that  charity  will  be  changeless,  the  sense 
that  pity  will  be  permanent,  the  faith  that 
affection  will  abide,  the  instinct  that  sacrifice  will 
survive,  the  assurance  that  between  man  and  man 
devotion  will  not  die.  The  fruits  of  Thy  new 
world  will  give  back  the  vintage  of  the  old ;  he 
who  begins  upon  the  bed  will  culminate  on  the 
wing. 

256 


THE  ATTRACTION  OF  THE  GREEK 
MIND  TO  JESUS 

"  Certain  Greeks  came  therefore  to  Philip,  saying    Sir,  w« 
would  see  Jesus." — John  xii.  21. 

It  is  no  wonder  that  the  Greeks  desired  to  see 
Jesus.  The  ideal  of  the  Greek  was  always  the 
man  whose  character  avoided  extremes.  What 
he  praised  above  everything  else  was  the  middle 
way — the  golden  mean.  He  had  four  favourite 
virtues — prudence,  the  middle  line  between 
anxiety  and  recklessness  ;  temperance,  the  middle 
line  between  excess  and  abstinence ;  fortitude,  the 
middle  line  between  daring  and  cowardice ;  and 
justice,  the  middle  line  between  good  nature  and 
severity.  Now,  I  think  that  from  the  human  side 
Jesus  was  essentially  the  man  of  the  golden  mean. 
He  is  that  which  the  Greek  waited  for,  but  which, 
in  his  own  nation,  he  never  perfectly  found — the 
man  who  had  in  him  a  little  of  everything.  The 
proof  is,  the  diversity  of  those  who  followed  Jesus. 
I  say,  the  diversity — not  the  number.  A  hundred 
followers  of  Jesus  are  more  proof  of  His  power 

257  R 


Thoughts   for   Life's  Journey 

than  are  a  million  followers  proof  of  the  power  of 
Buddha.  The  men  of  Buddha  are  all  of  one 
type — they  are  of  the  East  Eastern.  But  the 
men  and  women  of  Jesus  are  of  many  moulds. 
Why  is  one  of  His  disciples  so  unlike  another  ? 
It  is  because  the  Master  never  exhausts  Himself 
in  one  type  ;  He  has  a  little  bit  of  all  lives  in  Him. 
He  is  the  mediator — the  middle  man  ;  He  joins 
opposite  shores.  Peter  is  there  with  his  impulse, 
and  John  with  his  calmness.  Nathanael  is  there 
with  his  faith,  and  Nicodemus  with  his  reasoning. 
Martha  is  there  with  her  work,  and  Mary  with 
her  mysticism.  Paul  is  there  with  his  poetry,  and 
James  with  his  prose.  He  has  songs  of  Bethlehem 
for  the  child,  and  Jordan  visions  for  the  youth, 
and  heights  of  Hermon  for  the  man.  Joy  can 
meet  Him  at  Cana ;  depression  can  find  Him  at 
Gethsemane.  He  can  join  in  the  prattle  by  the 
fireside,  and  talk  with  the  learned  in  the  law. 
He  can  speak  with  the  peasant  on  the  highway, 
and  discourse  with  the  ruler  of  the  synagogue. 
He  can  support  the  social  order,  and  yet  ward 
from  its  destructive  stroke  the  victim  that  has 
wandered  from  the  way.  Oh,  I  do  not  wonder 
that  the  Greeks  sought  Jesus  !  He  was  the  man 
for  whom  they  were  specially  made — the  man 
all-round.  They  had  dreamed  of  Him  in  the 
258 


The  Attraction   of  the   Greek   Mind   to  Jesus 

night,  and  had  been  gladdened  by  their  dream ; 
and  in  the  waking  world  they  found  the  original — 
standing  in  the  dawn. 

Lord,  to  us  as  to  the  Greeks,  Thou  art  the 
fulfilment  of  a  dream.  Ere  ever  we  had  seen 
Thee  Thou  wert  the  desire  of  our  hearts.  We, 
like  the  Greeks,  have  all  wanted  a  mediator — a 
middle-man — a  man  who  had  in  him  something 
of  all  men.  Humanity  could  never  have  been 
attracted  by  any  one  quality,  however  granS.  We 
could  not  tell  the  invalid  to  take  comfort  from  the 
strength  of  Samson :  that  was  the  very  thing 
which  made  her  despair ;  she  wanted  one  that 
had  tasted  weakness  too.  We  could  not  tell 
gentle  Ruth  to  imitate  warlike  Deborah  :  that 
would  have  been  to  kill  her  gentleness ;  she  wanted 
one  that  could  give  her  power  through  peace. 
But  when  Thou  camest,  there  came  a  universal 
man,  an  intermediate  man,  a  man  with  a  touch 
for  all.  Within  Thy  heart  slept  all  contraries  in 
concord.  The  lion  was  there  and  the  lamb,  the 
thunder  and  the  still  small  voice.  The  strength 
of  Samson  was  there  ;  but  it  was  perfected  in 
weakness.  The  fire  of  Elijah  was  there;  but  it 
was  kindled  by  tender  love.  The  activity  of 
Martha  was  there ;  but  it  was  winged  by  hours  of 
rest.  In  Thy  one  hand  a  telescope  swept  the 
259  R  2 


Thoughts   for   Life's  Journey 

stars ;  in  the  other  a  microscope  searched  the 
dust.  Thy  voice  came  from  the  mountain ;  but 
its  precepts  were  made  for  the  valley.  All  extremes 
met  in  Thee — joy  and  sacrifice,  love  of  the  sinner 
and  loathing  of  the  sin,  power  and  gentleness, 
storm  and  peace,  rebuke  and  pity,  passion  and 
placidness,  depth  and  simplicity,  ocean  and  stream. 
O  Thou  mediating  man  that  had  a  share  in  all, 
let  me  find  my  part  in  Thee  1 


360 


THE  PLACE  FOR  SUCCESSFUL 
INQUIRY 

*'  When  He  was  entered  into  the  house  from  the  people,  His 
disciples  asked  Him  concerning  the  parable." — Mark  vii.  17. 

There  are  times  for  religious  inquiry.  Strange 
to  say,  they  are  the  times  not  of  mental  tossing, 
but  of  mental  rest.  It  was  when  Jesus  was 
entered  into  His  own  house  and  when  the  door 
was  shut  against  the  noise  of  the  multitude,  that 
His  disciples  began  to  question  Him.  The  reverse 
view  is  the  popular  one.  The  prevalent  notion  is 
that  the  spirit  of  inquiry  is  fostered  by  the  noise  of 
antagonism,  that  the  real  place  for  it  is  outside  the 
house  of  Jesus.  That  is  a  grand  mistake.  The 
psalmist  of  Israel  knew  better ;  he  expressed  the 
wish  to  dwell  in  God's  house  and  see  His  beauty 
in  order  that  he  might  "  inquire."  He  felt  that  no 
man  is  qualified  to  get  an  answer  if  he  is  in  a  state 
of  tumult.  And  is  he  not  right  ?  Is  it  not  a  matter 
of  daily  experience  that  the  mind  which  inquires 
successfully  must  be  a  mind  at  rest?  "Be  still, 
and  know  !  "  cries  the  Divine  oracle.  You  will 
261 


Thoughts  for  Life's  Journey 

never  come  to  know  by  being  violent.  If  you  want 
to  hear  an  answer  to  your  questioning,  you  must 
come  inside  the  house  and  escape  the  clamour  of 
the  multitude.  Neither  you  nor  Elijah  can  hear 
God  when  the  heart  is  convulsed  by  thunder  and 
earthquake  and  fire.  Many  a  message  to  the  soul 
has  been  lost  by  the  soul's  own  storm.  The  world 
did  not  hear  the  coming  of  its  Christ.  Why  ? 
Because  the  world's  heart  was  in  great  unrest. 
Mary  did  not  recognise  the  form  of  the  risen  Lord. 
Why  ?  Because  Mary's  soul  was  in  deep  despair. 
Martha  did  not  catch  the  sweet  words  at  Bethany. 
Why  ?  Because  Martha's  spirit  was  careful  and 
troubled  about  many  things.  Our  crowns  of  glory 
often  need  to  be  "  laid  up  "  for  us.  They  are  lying 
at  our  feet,  and  we  do  not  lift  them.  We  believe 
them  to  be  stones  on  the  causeway.  We  miss  the 
glitter  of  their  gems  ;  we  see  not  the  sparkle  of 
their  gold.  We  are  too  distraught  to  recognise 
them — too  close  to  the  clamour,  too  near  to  the 
multitude.  We  must  get  inside  if  we  would  find 
our  crown  ;  we  must  enter  the  house  with  Jesus. 
We  must  get  the  calm  mind,  the  placid  conscience, 
the  rested  heart,  the  bending  will,  the  quiet 
patience,  the  tranquil  faith,  the  underlying  peace, 
the  optimistic  love  ;  then  shall  we  hear  the  answer 
to  the  questioning  of  our  souls. 
262 


The  Place   for   Successful   Inquiry 

Bring  me  into  Thy  house,  O  Lord,  that  good- 
ness and  mercy  may  follow  me !  Goodness  and 
mercy  have  been  with  me  all  the  days  of  my  life ; 
but  when  they  first  come  I  do  not  see  them  ;  they 
have  to  "  follow  me."  It  is  only  when  I  have 
entered  Thy  house  that  I  really  recognise  them. 
It  is  only  in  the  peace  of  Thy  home,  in  the  calm 
of  my  spirit,  that  I  know  how  great  have  been  my 
benefits.  I  thought  I  was  speaking  to  the  gardener; 
when  I  entered  Thy  house  I  found  that  it  was 
Jesus.  I  thought  I  was  walking  to  Emmaus  with 
a  stranger — mine  eyes  were  blinded  with  grief; 
when  I  entered  Thy  house  I  found  it  was  the  risen 
Lord.  I  thought  I  was  clothing  a  child  in  a 
manger ;  when  I  entered  Thy  house  I  found  I  had 
been  robing  the  Son  of  Man.  I  thought  I  was 
giving  drink  to  a  suppliant  at  the  well  of  Samaria; 
when  I  entered  Thy  house  I  found  that  I  had  met 
the  answerer  of  prayer.  I  thought  that  Calvary 
had  crucified  the  Christ;  when  I  entered  Thy 
house  I  saw  that  it  had  crowned  Him.  I  thought 
that  the  box  of  ointment  was  wasted  when  it  was 
broken  ;  when  I  entered  Thy  house  every  corner 
was  filled  with  its  fragrance.  I  have  seen  the 
mercies  of  the  midday  only  by  the  cool  of  evening; 
I  have  learned  the  world's  beauty  in  the  quiet  of 
Thy  home. 

263 


THE    TRUE    VICTORY   OVER   SORROW 

"  The  land  whereon   thou   liest,   to   thee  will  I  give  it." — 
Gen.  XXVIII.  13. 

The  words  are  spoken  to  the  prostrate  Jacob 
on  his  stone  pillow  at  Bethel,  and  the  promise  is 
the  strangest  ever  conceived.  "  I  will  give  thee 
the  land  whereon  thou  liest — the  scene  of  thy 
humiliation,  the  place  of  thy  prostration,  the  spot 
where  thou  art  now  a  starving  vagrant."  There 
is  something  startling  here.  .  It  is  no  uncommon 
thing  for  a  man  in  the  hour  of  his  adversity  to 
have  a  vision  of  better  fortune ;  I  do  not  wonder 
that  even  upon  his  pillow  of  stone  Jacob  should 
have  had  a  dream  of  coming  glory.  But  this  is 
more  than  a  dream  of  coming  glory.  It  is  a 
dream  which  says,  "  There  is  a  time  coming  in 
which  your  glory  shall  consist  in  the  very  thing 
which  now  constitutes  your  pain."  Nothing  could 
be  more  sad  to  Jacob  than  the  ground  on  which 
he  was  lying.  It  was  the  hour  of  his  poverty. 
It  was  the  season  of  his  night.  It  was  the  seeming 
absence  of  his  God.  His  deepest  thought  at  the 
264 


The   True   Victory   Over   Sorrow 

time  was  that  God  had  forgotten  him.  His  one 
cry  of  subsequent  surprise  is  this,  "  The  Lord  was 
in  this  place,  and  I  knew  it  not !  "  It  was  the 
only  moment  in  his  life  when  he  felt  deserted  by 
Heaven,  when  he  was  disposed  to  say,  "  My  way 
is  hid  from  the  Lord."  And  yet  the  dream 
declares  that  this  rejected  moment  is  to  be  the 
scene  of  his  glory — "  The  land  whereon  thou 
Hest  will  I  give  thee,  the  place  of  thy  prostration 
will  be  thy  paradise."  There  is  no  promise  in  the 
world  so  sweet  to  a  distressed  soul  as  this.  The 
promise  of  deliverance  is  dear,  but  it  is  not  the 
dearest.  If  I  have  been  prostrated  on  an  earthly 
bed,  it  is  something  to  know  that  one  day  I  shall 
get  Easter  wings  and  fly  away.  Yet  even  in  my 
upward  flight  should  I  not  feel  that  I  had  wasted 
time  ?  Should  I  not  feel  that  while  I  lay  upon 
my  pillow  of  stone  I  had  lost  a  day's  work  in  the 
vineyard,  that  the  world  was  moving  on  and  had 
left  me  a  march  behind  ?  But  when  the  voice 
says,  *'  The  ground  whereon  thou  liest  shall  be 
thy  glory,"  this  indeed  is  victory.  It  is  not  mere 
Easter  morning ;  it  is  the  Easter  of  Calvary.  It 
is  not  the  resurrection  into  shining  garments ;  it 
is  the  resurrection  of  the  man  with  his  grave- 
clothes.  It  is  not  the  forgetting  of  the  rents  in 
the  old  robe  by  putting  on  a  heavenly  vesture ;  it 
265 


Thoughts   for   Life's  Journey 

is  the  finding  of  a  place  of  beauty  for  the  print  of 
the  former  nails.  The  day  of  my  trial  has  been 
the  dawn  of  my  triumph. 

My  soul,  reject  not  the  place  of  thy  prostration  ! 
It  has  ever  been  thy  robing-room  for  royalty. 
Ask  the  great  ones  of  the  past  what  has  been  the 
spot  of  their  prosperity ;  they  will  say,  "  It  was 
the  cold  ground  on  which  I  once  was  lying."  Ask 
Abraham  ;  he  will  point  you  to  the  sacrifice  o 
Moriah.  Ask  Joseph ;  he  will  direct  you  to  his 
dungeon.  Ask  Moses ;  he  will  date  his  fortune 
from  his  danger  in  the  Nile.  Ask  Ruth  ;  she  will 
bid  you  build  her  monument  in  the  field  of  her 
toil.  Ask  David ;  he  will  tell  you  that  his  songs 
came  from  the  night.  Ask  Job ;  he  will  remind 
you  that  God  answered  him  out  of  the  whirlwind. 
Ask  Peter ;  he  will  extol  his  submersion  in  the 
sea.  Ask  John  ;  he  will  give  the  palm  to  Patmos, 
Ask  Paul ;  he  will  attribute  his  inspiration  to  the 
light  which  struck  him  blind.  Ask  one  more — 
the  Son  of  Man.  Ask  Him  whence  has  come  His 
rule  over  the  world.  He  will  answer,  "  From  the 
cold  ground  on  which  I  was  lying — the  Geth- 
semane  ground;  I  received  My  sceptre  there." 
Thou  too,  my  soul,  shalt  be  garlanded  by  Geth- 
semane.  The  cup  thou  fain  wouldst  pass  from 
thee  will  be  thy  coronet  in  the  sweet  by-and-by. 

2G6 


The   True   Victory   Over   Sorrow 

The  hour  of  thy  loneUness  will  crown  thee.  The 
day  of  thy  depression  will  regale  thee.  It  is  thy 
desert  that  will  break  forth  into  singing ;  it  is  the 
trees  of  thy  silent  forest  that  will  clap  their  hands. 
The  last  things  will  be  first  in  the  sweet  by-and- 
by.  The  thorns  will  be  roses ;  the  vales  will  be 
hills ;  the  crooks  will  be  straight  lines ;  the  ruts 
will  be  level ;  the  mist  will  be  heat ;  the  shadows 
will  be  shining ;  the  losses  will  be  promotions ; 
the  tears  will  be  tracks  of  gold.  The  voice  of 
God  to  thine  evening  will  be  this,  "  Thy  treasure 
is  hid  in  the  ground  where  thou  wert  lying.*' 


267 


CHRIST'S    SYMPATHY    WITH     PAUSES 
IN    LABOUR 

"  They  passed  through  GaUlee  ;   and  He  would  not  that  any 
man  should  know  it." — Mark  ix.  30. 

I  THINK  this  passage  reveals  a  singular  experi- 
ence on  the  part  of  the  Son  of  Man.  You  must 
carefully  distinguish  it  from  those  passages  in 
which  He  wishes  to  conceal  His  Messiahship. 
Here  it  is  not  His  Messiahship  that  He  wants  to 
hide,  but  Himself;  He  desires  no  one  to  be  told 
that  He  is  passing  through  Galilee.  It  is  quite  a 
common  thing  for  kings  and  great  personages  to 
travel  incognito.  Their  motive  in  so  doing  is  to 
avoid  publicity.  They  are  oppressed  by  the  weight 
of  their  own  personality.  They  are  weary  of 
being  objects  of  the  world's  wonder.  They  are 
tired  of  being  surrounded  by  crowds,  whose  only 
purpose  is  to  gaze.  If  they  were  helping  these 
crowds,  they  would  feel  otherwise ;  but  to  stand 
as  a  target  for  curiosity  is  to  bear  the  fatigue  of 
the  treadmill — to  bear  a  fatigue  which  accom- 
plishes no  work  and  achieves  nothing  for  the 
268 


Christ's   Sympathy  with   Pauses   in   Labour 

world.  Now,  in  one  of  His  journeys,  Jesus  had 
this  desire  to  be  hid,  to  be  saved  from  any 
weariness  which  was  not  part  of  the  redemption 
of  mankind.  I  am  glad  that  the  evangelist  has 
recorded  this  seemingly  commonplace  experience. 
I  am  glad  he  has  recorded  it,  just  because  it  is 
commonplace.  I  like  to  think  of  every  experience 
of  my  life  as  having  found  a  counterpart  in 
Christ.  It  is  more  easy  to  find  these  counterparts 
in  proportion  as  we  ascend  to  great  things.  The 
bankrupt  may  find  it  in  His  impoverishment,  the 
physical  suiferer  in  His  pain,  the  bereaved  in  His 
Bethany,  the  deserted  in  His  betrayal,  the  hungry 
in  His  wilderness,  the  thirsting  in  His  cross,  the 
homeless  in  His  having  not  where  to  lay  His 
head,  the  sleepless  in  His  midnight  tossing  on  the 
waves.  But  there  are  little  moments  less  grave 
than  these  for  which  yet  we  fain  would  find  a 
counterpart,  times  when  we  are  not  miserable, 
but  just  weary  of  the  burden  and  the  heat,  and 
longing  for  a  holiday  of  change.  Is  it  not  some- 
thing to  know  that  these  commonplace  moments, 
these  unromantic  moments,  these  moments  which 
seem  the  most  unheroic  in  the  life  of  man,  have 
found  a  kindred  spot  in  the  sympathy  of  Him 
who,  in  the  days  of  His  flesh,  bore  the  frailty  of 
our  frame? 

269 


Thoughts   for   Life's  Journey 

Lord,  I  thank  Thee  for  this  sidehght  on  Thy 
sympathy.  It  gives  a  solemnity  to  the  things  I 
thought  least  solemn — my  hours  of  relaxation.  I 
have  always  associated  Thy  sympathy  with  my 
hours  of  toil.  I  have  had  no  difficulty  in  praying 
for  Thy  presence  in  the  sphere  of  duty,  in  the 
discharge  of  my  work  for  my  brother  man.  But 
it  never  occurred  to  me  to  say,  "  Be  with  me  in 
my  desire  for  a  holiday,  in  my  search  for  relaxa- 
tion of  the  business  cord."  At  such  times  I 
seemed  to  myself  a  trifler,  a  poor  creature,  a 
revealer  of  the  weak  side  of  human  nature.  I 
shall  not  think  so  any  more.  In  Thy  desire  to 
pass  through  Galilee  unknown  to  the  crowd,  I 
shall  see  henceforth  the  sanctifying  of  what  I  call 
my  hour  of  idleness.  For,  let  me  not  forget,  O 
Lord,  that  there  are  holy  thoughts  which  can  only 
come  through  a  holiday.  Many  a  ship  of  beauty 
passes  unseen,  in  the  night  which  my  own  anxiety 
has  made.  Many  a  rose  of  comfort  has  been 
covered  unwittingly  by  my  own  working  hand. 
Many  a  song  of  immortal  hope  has  been  curtained 
from  my  ear  by  the  roar  of  the  loom  and  factory. 
Many  an  angel's  wing  has  been  hid  from  my  view 
by  the  smoke  and  dust  of  duty's  battle.  I  thank 
Thee  that  Thou  hast  sympathy  with  my  strain  ot 
tension.  I  bless  Thee  that  I  can  think  of  my 
270 


Christ's   Sympathy   with    Pauses   in   Labour 

relaxation  as  Thy  rest.  I  praise  Thee  that  in  the 
unbending  of  my  bow  I  can  see  the  breaking  of 
Thy  bread.  I  laud  Thee  that  I  can  cease  to  deem 
my  hour  of  freedom  an  hour  of  frivolity.  The 
secrecy  of  Thy  road  through  Galilee  has  made  it 
religious  to  repose. 


271 


THE     COMFORTING     SPOT    IN 
MEMORY 

"  I  call  to  remembrance  my  song  in  the  night." — Ps.  lxxvii.  6. 

There  are  three  sources  of  comfort  in  the  hour 
of  sorrow — the  future,  the  present,  and  the  past. 
The  comfort  of  the  future  is  anticipation — the 
looking  forward  to  better  things.  The  comfort  of 
the  present  is  strength — the  support  of  an  invisible 
hand.  The  comfort  of  the  past  is  memory — a 
recalling  of  the  experience  of  former  days.  The 
psalmist  is  here  speaking  of  the  last  of  these.  It 
is  interesting  to  observe  where  he  thinks  the  special 
comfort  of  memory  to  lie.  He  does  not  seek  it 
where  I  should  expect  him  to  seek  it.  I  should 
9xpect  him  to  recall  life's  unclouded  days,  to  bring 
up  to  remembrance  whatever  moments  he  has  had 
of  unqualified  joy.  He  does  not.  On  the  contrary, 
he  seeks  the  proof  of  Divine  help  by  going  back 
not  to  his  bright,  but  to  his  chequered,  hours,  '*  I 
call  to  remembrance  my  song  in  the  night."  What 
he  says  is  this,  '*  Your  best  comfort  from  memory 
is  not  the  recalling  of  days  when  you  had  no  cloud, 
27sr 


The   Comforting   Spot  in    Memory 

but  the  recalUng  of  days  when  you  had  mingled 
cloud  and  sunshine — the  memory  that  the  song 
could  exist  in  the  sorrow."     Why  is  the  memory 
of  these  chequered  moments  the  psalmist's  best 
comfort  in  tribulation  ?     It  is  because  they  reveal 
a  phase  of  God's  presence  which  is  not  revealed 
by  the  remembrance  of  unqualified  joy.     If  I  am 
in  grief,  I  would  rather  remember  that  God  once 
rescued  me  than  that  He  once  regaled  me.     If  I 
am  lying  among  the  thorns,  it  is  no  great  solace  to 
know   that    yesterday  God   laid   me    among  the 
flowers ;  if  that  were  all,  it  might  mean  that  He 
can  only  love  the  beautiful.     But  if  I  can  remem- 
ber how,  when  yesterday  I  lay  among  the  thorns, 
He  planted  flowers  beside  me — if  I  can  remember 
that  His  song  came  to  me  at  the  very  moment 
when  the  pulse  of  life  beat  low,  then  indeed  I  get 
from  retrospect  a  unique  revelation — God's  pre- 
sence in  calamity.     Every  Jew  believed  in  His 
presence  outside  calamity.     Every  son   of  Israel 
recognised   His  favour   in   man's  song  and    His 
absence  in  man's  night.     But  the  psalmist  wants 
more.     He  wants  to  feel  that  the  night  may  itself 
have  a  song,  that  the  cloud  may  itself  have  a  bow, 
that  the  thorn  may  itself  be  environed  by  a  rose. 
God's  glory  to  him  is  His  presence  in  the  gloom. 
Lord,  I  am  grateful  for  the  memory  of  green 
273  s 


Thoughts   for   Life's  Journey 

pastures  and  quiet  waters  ;  but  in  the  hour  of 
sorrow  my  comfort  is  another  remembrance — Thy 
rod  in  the  path  that  is  rugged,  Thy  staff  in  the 
waters  that  are  not  still.  Methinks  when  I  look 
back  I  never  see  Thee  so  clearly  as  in  Thy  coming 
with  clouds;  Thou  art  brightest  against  a  dark 
ground.  I  do  not  say  that  I  have  never  failed  to 
find  an  explanation  ;  but  I  have  never  failed  to  find 
a  rod  and  a  staff.  The  comfort  of  memory  is  not 
that  I  have  traced  my  sorrows,  but  that  I  have 
sustained  my  sorrows.  In  looking  back  I  do  not 
always  see  my  emergence  from  the  shadow  ;  but 
I  can  always  see  that  there  was  support  in  the 
shadow.  How  do  I  know  that  Thy  rod  and  Thy 
staff  were  with  me  ?  Simply  because  I  did  not 
die.  My  retrospective  marvel  is  just  that  I  have 
got  through.  I  do  not  understand  how  I  have  got 
through.  I  only  know  that  my  own  strength 
could  not  have  done  it,  that  my  own  unaided  steps 
could  not  have  done  it.  Something  must  have 
kept  me  up.  Something  must  have  helped  me  to 
walk  through  the  valley  of  the  shadow.  It  was 
Thy  rod  and  Thy  staff,  O  Lord.  It  is  this  which 
makes  the  dearest  spot  in  my  memory  the  valley 
of  the  shadow  itself — not  the  pastures  green,  not 
the  still  waters.  In  the  pastures  green  Thou  wert 
with  me  in  my  greatness  ;  by  the  still  waters  Thou 
274 


The   Comforting  Spot  in   Memory 

wert  with  me  in  my  strength.  But  in  the  valley 
of  the  shadow  Thou  wert  with  me  in  my  weak- 
ness. It  was  a  meeting  of  extremes.  Thy  mercy 
came  to  my  meanness;  Thy  power  came  to  my 
poverty  ;  Thy  hand  came  to  my  heaviness  ;  Thy 
bracing  came  to  my  burden  ;  Thy  song  came  to 
my  sigh ;  Thy  life  came  to  my  lowliness  ;  Thy 
radiance  came  to  my  rags  ;  Thy  glory  came  to  my 
grief.  The  most  comforting  spot  to  me  will  always 
be  the  valley  where  I  heard  Thy  song. 


275  s  2 


THE    FIRST    SYMPTOM    OF 
CONVERSION 

"And  Saul  arose  from  the  earth;   and  when  his  eyes  were 
opened,  he  saw  no  man." — Acts  ix.  8. 

The  immediate  effect  of  Saul's  illumination  was 
a  sense  of  darkness.  It  seems "  a  wild  paradox. 
But  in  the  spiritual  world  it  is  the  experience  or 
every  enlightened  man.  It  is  true  even  of  secular 
development.  The  first  manifestation  of  every 
mental  light  is  a  sense  of  mystery.  It  does  not 
exist  in  the  child.  Children  have  not  a  feeling  of 
mental  blindness.  They  are  not  conscious  of 
difficulty,  are  not  overawed  by  the  things  around 
them.  They  do  not  experience  the  need  of  picking 
their  steps  or  walking  warily.  They  appear,  to 
themselves,  to  see  everything  plainly.  The  reason 
is  that  the  light  has  not  come  and  that  therefore 
the  sense  of  blindness  has  not  come.  The  first 
effect  of  larger  light  will  be  decreasing  confidence. 
There  will  come  by-and-by  a  stage  called  wonder. 
What  is  wonder  ?  I  should  define  it  to  be  the 
soul's  sense  of  its  inability  to  see.  We  begin  to 
marvel  at  a  thing  when  we  find  that  we  do  not  see 
276 


The   First   Symptom   of  Conversion 

through  it ;  and  what  enables  us  to  have  the 
experience  is  an  increase  of  mental  light.  The 
feeling  of  incompetency  in  the  inward  eye  is 
created  by  the  new  flash  of  intelligence.  So  is  it 
in  the  religious  life.  When  God  illuminates  a 
soul  the  new  power  of  vision  manifests  itself  as 
mist.  When  Saul  of  Tarsus  gets  his  enlighten- 
ment he  experiences  for  the  first  time  an  inability 
to  walk  alone.  The  immediate  gift  of  God  to  him 
is  a  sense  of  insufficiency.  He  had  not  felt  it 
yesterday ;  his  prevalent  feeling  yesterday  was  a 
sense  of  individual  power.  But  to-day  the  light 
has  come  and  the  self-sufficiency  has  died.  He  is 
unable  to  find  his  way  along  the  same  road  on 
which  yesterday  he  strutted  with  the  most  confident 
and  fearless  step.  It  is  the  same  road,  the  same 
company,  the  same  outward  man;  what  makes  the 
difference  ?  An  inward  something — light.  It  is 
that  which  makes  him  feel  the  sense  of  impotence; 
it  is  that  which  makes  him  cry,  "O  wretched  man 
that  I  am ! "  If  a  grown  man  got  his  sight  for  the 
first  time,  he  would  for  the  first  time  feel  blind. 
He  would  cease  to  find  his  way  in  the  old  paths  ; 
he  would  need  to  be  led  about  awhile.  So  with 
God's  illumination.  It  makes  old  things  new, 
and  therefore  I  do  not  recognise  them  ;  it  causes 
me  to  cry  out  for  the  leading  of  my  Father. 
277 


Thoughts   for  Life's  Journey 

Lord,  Thou  hast  arrested  me  on  my  Damascus 
journey;  Thou  hast  transformed  self-consciousness 
into  humihty.  I  set  out  on  the  road  with  bound- 
less belief  in  myself;  I  felt  no  obstacle,  I  experi- 
enced no  difficulty.  Suddenly,  at  a  turning  of  the 
way  my  soul  grew  paralysed.  The  confidence 
faded.  The  world  no  longer  stretched  before  me 
as  a  pleasure-ground.  There  came  a  mist  over 
the  scene,  and  I  could  not  find  my  way.  It  all 
happened  in  the  meeting  with  one  man — a  man 
from  Nazareth.  Before  I  met  Him,  my  pride  of 
self  was  unbounded  ;  I  said  in  my  heart,  "  I  shall 
carve  my  own  destiny."  But  one  glance  at  the 
man  of  Nazareth  laid  me  low.  My  fancied  glory 
became  ashes ;  my  imagined  strength  became 
weakness;  I  beat  upon  my  breast  and  cried, 
**  Unclean  !  "  Shall  I  repine  because  I  met  that 
man  !  Shall  I  weep  because  a  flash  of  light  at  a 
street  corner  threw  all  my  greatness  into  shade ! 
No,  my  Father,  for  the  shade  is  the  reflex  of  the 
sheen.  It  is  because  I  have  seen  Thy  beauty  that 
humanity  has  grown  dim.  It  is  enlargement  that 
has  made  me  humble.  I  have  gazed  for  a  moment 
on  a  perfect  ideal,  and  its  brightness  has  eclipsed 
my  candle.  It  is  not  night,  but  day,  that  blinds 
me  to  my  own  possessions.  It  is  light  that  makes 
me  loathe  myself.  It  is  sunshine  that  reveals  my 
278 


The    First   Symptom   of  Conversion 

soiledn8Ss.  It  is  dawn  that  tells  me  of  my  dark- 
ness. It  is  morning  that  discloses  my  mean 
attire.  It  is  the  glow  that  spots  my  garments.  It 
is  the  clearness  that  numbers  my  clouds.  O  God, 
my  God,  I  only  lose  my  way  when  I  am  lit  by 
Theei 


279 


REJUVENESCENCE 

"How  can  a  man  be  born  when  he  is  old  ?  " — John  hi.  4. 

It  has  been  thought  by  some  that  Nicodemus 
uttered  these  words  because  he  was  an  old  man. 
I  do  not  think  he  was ;  old  people  do  not  travel 
alone  in  the  night.  Nor  is  the  idea  of  personal 
old  age  implied  in  the  question.  Christ  had 
declared  the  universal  need  for  a  second  birth. 
Nicodemus  says :  "At  that  rate,  all  the  aged 
unbelievers  will  remain  unconverted.  There  is  no 
hope  of  changing  habits  of  thought  which  have 
become  inveterate.  The  young  may  take  on  new 
ideas ;  but  the  old  cannot.  In  order  to  do  so, 
they  would  require  to  perform  the  impossible  feat 
of  passing  through  the  process  of  birth  a  second 
time."  The  language  of  Nicodemus  is  not  per- 
sonal but  sympathetic ;  he  is  not  thinking  of 
himself,  but  of  others.  Christ  tells  him,  however, 
that  there  is  no  age-limit  for  the  second  birth  of  a 
soul.  "  The  wind  bloweth  where  it  listeth  ;  so  is 
every  one  that  is  born  of  the  Spirit."  He  says  in 
effect :  "  The  spirit  has  liberty  at  every  age ;  it 
280 


Rejuvenescence 

can  sweep  the  woods  of  autumn  equally  with  the 
fields  of  spring.  The  flesh  has  a  limit  of  years — a 
limit  beyond  which  it  can  renew  itself  no  more. 
But  the  spirit  can  break  into  morning  at  midnight, 
into  June  in  January,  into  foliage  in  the  frost  of 
winter.  The  lark  in  the  soul  may  sing  in  the 
evening.  The  dawn  in  the  heart  may  come  at  the 
closing.  The  joy  of  the  life  may  wait  for  the 
setting.  The  spirit  of  a  man  may  be  raised  even 
at  the  last  day."  That  is  what  Jesus  meant ;  and 
it  is  true.  We  speak  of  the  burdens  of  age ; 
and  it  has  burdens.  But,  say  as  you  will,  there 
are  burdens  which  age  removes,  and  these  the 
heaviest  ones.  Care  presses  most  upon  the  morn- 
ing, just  because  it  is  the  morning.  I  am  more 
troubled  by  shadows  in  hope  than  by  shadows  in 
memory.  Earth  is  uncertain  in  my  early  hours ; 
and  uncertainty  is  unfavourable  to  song.  But  in 
life's  evening  I  can  sing.  I  have  no  longer  to 
provide  for  myself.  Personal  outlook  is  ended; 
what  remains  is  for  God  to  do— not  for  me.  It 
seems  the  true  time  for  being  young — the  careless 
time,  the  free  time,  the  spiritually  unweighted 
time.  No  wonder  Jacob  carolled  then  with  the 
first  song  of  his  life  !  No  wonder  he  swept,  in 
age,  the  harp-strings  that  in  his  youth  were  silent ! 
He  had  no  longer  to  provide  for  his  youth  by  a 
281 


Thoughts   for  Life's  Journey 

stair,  for  his  pillow  by  a  stone,  for  his  daybreak 
by  a  wrestling  of  the  soul.  The  wings  of  the 
spirit  came  when  the  wings  of  the  morning  had 
rest. 

Lord,  give  me  the  spirit  of  youth  !  Forbid  that 
in  my  old  age  men  should  say,  **  He  belongs  to  a 
former  generation  "  !  I  want  to  belong  to  the 
newest  generation.  I  want  my  spirit  to  light  its 
torch  not  at  yesterday's  but  at  to-morrow's  sky. 
I  want  to  be  numbered  with  the  race  that  is  com- 
ing in  rather  than  with  the  race  that  is  going  out. 
I  can  be  so  numbered ;  my  spirit  can  be  born  again 
when  I  am  old.  I  refuse  to  subscribe  to  that 
moral  of  the  fleeting  years — *'  We  all  do  fade  as  a 
leaf."  Not  as  a  leaf  would  I  fade,  but  as  a  dawn. 
I  would  lose  myself  only  in  larger  light.  I  would 
fade  in  a  fuller  radiance,  I  would  merge  in  a 
mightier  stream.  If  my  taper  expire,  let  it  be  in 
tints  of  gold  !  Kindle  me  again  at  the  fire  of  the 
new  generation  !  Let  my  heart  catch  the  glow  of 
the  coming  sun  !  However  old  my  flesh  may  be, 
let  my  sympathies  be  young  !  Write  my  name 
among  the  early  sons  of  this  century!  Interest 
me  in  their  problems  ;  inspire  me  with  their  aims  ; 
inflame  me  with  their  larger  view !  Give  me 
fellowship  with  the  love-feast  of  Cana;  let  not 
romance  be  rusted  by  life's  afternoon  !  Give  me 
282 


Rejuvenfjscence 

sympathy  with  the  hour  of  first  temptation; 
remind  me  of  Hfe's  primitive  hunger !  Give  me 
tenderness  for  youth's  aspirings ;  let  me  stand  on 
its  mount  of  beatitudes  and  see  its  coming 
kingdom  !  Give  me  kindliness  even  to  early  pre- 
sumption ;  let  me  forgive  James  and  John  for 
underrating  the  depth  of  the  cup !  The  climax 
of  Thy  leading  is  to  make  me  young  when  I  am 
old. 


283 


THE  MORAL  TAUGHT  BY  THE 
IDLE  THESSALONIANS 

"  We   hear   that   there    are    some  which   walk   among  you 
disorderly,  working  not  at  all." — 2  Thes.  hi.  ii. 

The  disorderliness  here  spoken  of  was  the  result 
not  of  religious  unbelief  but  of  religious  convic- 
tion. These  Thessalonians  refused  to  work  on 
earth  because  they  looked  for  an  immediate  advent 
of  heaven.  Christ  was  coming;  He  might  be 
expected  any  hour  of  any  day.  What  was  the 
use  of  beginning  work  which  might  be  interrupted 
ere  it  was  half  done  !  Why  start  the  building  of 
a  house  when  there  was  imminent  expectation  of 
a  house  not  made  with  hands !  Why  launch  a 
ship  for  the  voyage  when  the  time  was  about  to 
come  in  which  there  should  be  no  more  sea ! 
Why  teach  the  boy  at  school  when  tongues  were 
about  to  cease  and  knowledge  to  vanish  away ! 
Why  study  human  politics  when  the  kingdoms 
of  this  world  were  to  become  the  kingdom  of 
the  Lord  and  of  His  Christ !  So  asked  the 
Thessalonian  workmen ;  and  in  answer  they  folded 
284 


The  Moral  Taught  by  the  Idle  Thessalonians 

their  hands  in  rest.  They  deemed  it  a  waste  oi 
time  to  labour  at  structures  which  might  ere  long 
be  superseded.  It  was  to  counteract  such  a  spirit 
that  Paul  wrote  this  epistle.  It  is  to  my  mind 
the  most  peculiar  writing  in  the  Bible.  It  is  the 
only  book  of  Scripture  I  know  v/hich  is  written 
with  the  express  design  of  moderating  the  sense 
of  another  world.  Paul  seeks  to  throw  a  veil 
over  the  coming  of  Christ.  He  feels  that  the 
Thessalonians  have  too  near  a  view  of  heaven — a 
view  so  near  that  it  makes  them  unpractical 
towards  the  earth.  He  restores  their  practicalness 
by  shrouding  their  vision — by  bringing  a  cloud 
over  the  transfiguration  glory.  And  truly  we 
have  all  a  lesson  to  learn  here.  There  is  nothing 
of  which  we  complain  so  persistently  as  the 
silence  of  God.  Here  the  silence  of  God  is  made 
a  form  of  His  benevolence — a  thing  necessary  for 
the  perpetuation  of  the  world.  We  are  shown  the 
picture  of  an  earth  arrested  by  the  overwhelming 
prominence  of  heaven.  We  are  made  to  see  what 
would  be  the  effect  of  a  letter  from  the  sky  telling 
that  the  time  was  brief.  It  might  stimulate  the 
missionary,  it  might  benefit  the  evangelist ;  but  to 
every  other  profession  it  would  be  paralysis.  It 
would  disband  the  army  and  navy.  It  would 
impoverish  the  lawyer.  It  would  dull  the  trade 
285 


Thoughts   for   Life's  Journey 

of  the  merchant.  It  would  arrest  authorship.  It 
would  stop  education.  It  would  impede  the  wings 
of  medical  science.  It  would  give  a  quietus  to 
philanthropy.  It  would  cause  to  seem  superfluous 
the  help  of  man  to  man. 

Therefore,  O  Lord,  I  thank  Thee  for  the  cloud 
that  mingles  with  my  sunshine.  I  thank  Thee 
that  there  is  a  mist  on  the  other  side  of  the  river. 
I  have  often  lamented  that  the  op]3osite  bank  is 
not  more  luminous ;  but  I  have  changed  my  mind. 
I  should  not  care  to  beautify  the  bank  on  which  I 
dwell  if  I  saw  the  other  side  too  clearly.  I  often 
bless  Thee  for  Thy  revelations ;  do  I  sufficiently 
bless  Thee  for  Thy  silences  ?  But  for  Thy  silence 
I  should  have  no  speech.  Should  I  ever  provide 
for  my  children  if  Thy  provision  were  made 
plain  ?  Should  I  ever  clothe  the  poor  if  I  saw 
Thy  hand  weaving  their  garments  ?  Should  I 
ever  redeem  the  lapsed  if  I  beheld  Thine  angels 
streaming  forth  to  save  them  ?  My  efforts  would 
be  ended ;  my  love  would  be  lost ;  my  charity 
would  be  chilled ;  my  pity  would  be  plucked  up 
by  the  roots.  What  Thou  cravest  is  not  provision 
but  my  providing.  It  is  to  my  care  Thou  hast 
entrusted  my  brother.  It  is  to  teach  me  my 
responsibility  that  Thou  hast  kept  silence.  If  I 
heard  the  heavenly  music,  I  should  relax  my  toil. 
286 


The  Moral  Taught  by  the  Idle  Thessalonians 

It  is  the  mist  that  moves  me  ;  it  is  the  need  that 
nerves  me ;  it  is  the  doubt  that  dedicates  me ;  it 
is  the  peril  that  prompts  me ;  it  is  the  unseenness 
that  stimulates  me.  I  have  gained  more  by  Thy 
silence  than  by  Thy  song.  Thy  song  gives  me 
faith  and  hope,  but  Thy  silence  teaches  me  charity; 
for  it  is  the  uncertainty  of  hfe  that  sends  me  to  the 
help  of  my  brother,  and  it  is  the  mystery  of 
to-morrow  that  wakes  my  sympathy  with  man. 


Date  Due 

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